


"why tf is there barbecue sauce on my titties- Jisung shut up"

by SugasKumamon



Category: Day6 (Band), GOT7, JYP Family - Fandom, JYP NATION - Fandom, Stray Kids (Band), boystory - Fandom
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Multi, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, btw you better bet your sweet lil ass jeongin likes boys, have fun with this mess, i ain't pulling that hetero best friend 9th wheel shit, i have exams in less than 2 weeks, i was probs drunk when i wrote this, it's 5 AM waht am i doing, it's also un-betaed lol, meet y'all in the pitch, or just soft for jeongin 'cause life, pls give me a chance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-01-13 14:58:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18471310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugasKumamon/pseuds/SugasKumamon
Summary: Basically the mess that is JYP NATION through Jeongin's eyes.(BOYSTORY and Trainees included 'cause they deserve more LOVE. AND. APRECIATION!!!)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, english is not my first language and it shows.  
> it's 5 AM right now fml

It was 1 AM when Gou Mingrui decided to give Jeongin a heart attack.

And it would be 4 when Hyunjin would try to murder him. How it happened? Well....

Really, it wasn't Jeongin's fault. He had just been laying in bed, staying up and scrolling through his phone due to his insomnia when suddenly, he recieved a call. And he thanked all heavens that he had put his phone on silent mode, 'cause otherwise he would have to deal with a fussy Han Jisung who slept (for once) in his own bed contentedly. Anf honestly, as much as he loved him, Jeongin didn't have the patience for that clingy hyung at 1 in the morning, thank you very much. 

The members of Stray Kids were drained and had immidiently all collapsed in their or their group members' beds after having arrived back at the dorm less than two hours prior. They had been practicing their dance in the practice room for a good 5 hours, after which they sat down on the practice room floor and had their dinner in the form of takeout boxes and Jeongin was still wondering how the fuck they hadn't spilled their drinks or sauces on the practice room floor (wouldn't have been the first time, too. But the scolding dpeech from JYP and their managers later would never be pretty. Honestly, it was already kind of a ritual at JYP that their artist were basically living in the practice rooms, and that includes sleeping there. Jeongin himself had axperienced the cramps after sleeping on a hard-wood floor way too often for his age and already started considering himself a full-time grandpa. And then there were the mornings where he would be coaxed out of his sleep by Sungjin, Jaebum, his members or whoever else's leg he had fallen asleep on, and probably drooled all over it, only to be told he had to go to school.) 

The rest of his energy had been spent on trying to coax a sleepy Bang Chan out of the studio all while basically carrying hi with one arm and making sure all of Hyung's work would be saved on the laptop before turning it off. He didn't want Chan to have another mental breakdown the morning after, the poor guy already had too many issues (the inability of seeing his own limits and knowing how the take a break being one of them).

Back in the dorm, Jeongin quickly tiptoed out of the room and into the living room, being sure to quietly close the door behind him before taking Mingrui's call.

"Rui?" Jeongin quietly said into the phone. he wasn't sure wether Mingrui heard him though, as he was only met with silence. "Rui, you there?" he gently muttered in his accented chinese.

Almost hesitant and way too softly, Jeongin finally heard something what he supposed was a sound of confirmation, probably mixed with a nod of his head that Jeongin couldn't see. Jeongin quickly realized one strange thing: the lack of noise. Boystory was supposed to retun to Korea today and the lack of background noise that he knew from experience was usual for an airport was missing. They couldn't have already been in the car, could they?

No, he was sure they weren't. First of all, Yao Chen had texted him their flight time the night before and he knew that getting off a plane and checked out wasn't so short and he also knew that he would still hear the rushing of tires and the sound of a busy road in the background, as Zihao always insisted on keeping the car window at least open to the point where he could feel the night air blowing against his forehead, it was his own way of calming down and forgetting the stress. And had Mingrui been in the car, holding the phone to his ear, Shuyang would have already made his presence clear by trying to grab Jeongin's attention by screaming random things like "Gege, did you watch our show? We were amazing, weren't we? Did i do well?! I put a lot of effort into that dance, you know!", trying to make Jeongin praise him all the while making grabby hands at the phone or trying to reach for it by climbing over Mingrui. He would also hear the slight shush coming from Hanyu, their insecure and stressed baby-leader, who would try to pull Shuyang into his lap and try to calm him down all while muttering something along the lines of it being "too late for this". And Zeyu, being Zeyu, would sassily reply "Actually, it's too early in the morning gege, get your facts straight!" with Xinlong giggling in the background.

So again, Jeongin found the absence of those all too familiar sounds oddly concerning.

"Rui, what is it?" Jeongin whispered, headinf to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. 

"Can't I call you just because I want to hear your voice, gege?" And something about the tremble in Mingrui's voice made Jeongin's stomach turn.

He scoffed. "Last I saw you, you were appearently 'too cool to interact with someone like me'. Oh, and you kicked me in the leg saying how my singing is ugly." Jeongin poured water into the glass all while waiting for a reaction, and he might have heard a whimper in the background but he convinced himself he heard wrong. Feeling soory for his actions only comes hours after MIngrui had already sitten in Jeongin's lap and was starting to fall asleep in his arms, which Jeongin was already used to, and the apologies always came in the forms of quiet, hushed and barely understandable chinese mutterings when the boy was too sleepy to control his actions and pride of being a 'big boy' at 12. 

So really, being so sensetive to Jeongin's judgement, which the boy clearly knew wasn't meant to be mean or make the younger guilty, was very unusual. jeongin expected the usual huff, giggle or sassy comeback that the younger oh so often pulled. Where did Jeongin go wrong in raising these brats?

After not getting a response for a while, Jeongin decided to speak up once more."Where is Hanyu, anyway?" He brought full glass of water to his lips a gulped the liquied down, and god, did it feel like heaven to his dry lungs.

"I uhh..... he isn't here.... well, with me."

Jeongin made a questioning noise between gulps of water which was like saying "Spit it out already" to the kid.

"I ....I might've ... run away..." Mingrui choked out.

Jeongin choked on his water and promptly spit it out, all over the kitchen counter."What?!" He panicked, a little too loudly. After whipping his head around to check that none of his own hyungs are awake he continued. "Why would you- Please tell me you're at least nearby or still at the airport-"

"I- I also might not even know where I am and how to get b-back-" He finished with a squeak and it pained Jeongin's heart who recognized that Mingrui must be rolling himself into a ball at this point, it was his own weird form of self-defense which the boys had become familiar with over the years.

"Call Hanyu then! Or the others!" Jeongin was starting to panic more and more. He could guess that Hanyu must have noticed Rui's absence already and probably already called a dozen times.

"I- I can't do that- G-gege please pick me up." He could practically hear the tears forming in Mingrui's eyes. "I-It#s dark and scary and this was abad idea-" He hiccuped.

Jeongin ran a hand through his hair after having dried the water off the counter. "Baby, i need you to calm down."

"You guys landed at Incheon airport, right?" A sound of confirmation from the other side. "And you're still somewhere in Incheon, right?" Another Confirmation. Jeongin could work with that.

"Alright, describe your surroundings. Are there any signs nearby?"

"W-Well I- I'm near a bench under lightpost and- and oh- there's a sign right over there! It says Ga- Gwang-Guang?" Mingrui had always strugled with reading korean, especially when he was nervous. But Jeongin knew that these kind of sings were mostly found the the end or beginning of a park, so at leat Rui wasn*t too far lost in between high trees at night.

"Alright, i need you to walk over to that sign and look around- are there any stores nearby? Ones where the light is still on?"

After He had safely manouvered Mingrui over a street and into a 24h convenience store after which he told Rui to give the cashier, a nice old man with a kind sounding voice and way too much patience, and explained the situation in a frenzy of "can my little brother please stay inside a little bit? he got lost and it's cold and i'm already on my way to pick him up-" and getting a hearty laugh with a promise of Mingrui being taken care of in return, he ended the call with a silent promise to murder Mingrui once he got him. He simply changed his pants and threw on a black hoodie over his night-shirt as well as a coat ('cause Korea is damn cold fhl), then grabbed his phone, wallet, keys and a extra fluffy hoodie ( as a kind of substitute jacket for Mingrui, who had not grabbed his coat when he decided to rebel and run away, if the tremble of his voice and the clattering of his teeth was anything to go by). Then, he left.

And that's how Jeongin found himself in a train heading to Incheon at 1:30 AM in the morning, hood pulled over his head, phone clutched in his hand in case Mingrui calls again telling him he was kicked out of the store for causing trouble. Jeongin wouldn't put that behind him, really. He prayed to god and every deity out there that his Hyungs wouldn't wake up and notice his empty bed while probably trying to sneak in and cuddle with him.

Thinking about it, it definitely wasn't safe for a kid like Jeongin to take the train with a bunch of sketchy people in the middle of the night, no matter what he told himself. He might be a Hyung to Boystory (and to YangYang, that brat), but there was a reason why Stray KIds and most of JYP babied the hell out of him. But then again, it was even unsafer for a kid like Mingrui, who could be mistaken for a elementary student juding by appearance and height, to be lost in the streets of unfamiliar Incheon in the middle of the night.

The Hyungs will understand, he prayed. Even though he clearly knew they wouldn't. His Hyungs are unreasonable most of the time, using the dumbest excuses to defend their mostly over protective actions when it comes to Jeongin. However, Jeongin loved Boystory, as much as they were brats(they were his brats, not that he would ever admit it), he would go to the point of getting in huge trouble with his own Hyungs for them.

Really, it's funny how it all started. Jeongin was at fault for handing in his applications too late and while everybody else got japanese classes, as JYP thought Japan was the biggest market for them at the time, he got stuck with complicated chinese because there was no more room in the Japanese ones. That's how he ended up in the minority that had to learn Chinese, altough he wasn't the only one. And honestly, he considered himself kinds fluent in it.

The Chinese trainees were excited about him learning their language, and would tease him in Chinese right in front of him which he would start to undertsand more and more over time. After a while, he even stopped realizing that they weren't speaking Korean in front of him. That left him with a fluent undertsnading and confident pronounciátion with a very akward accent, he often would understand anything people said to him but not always answer back in Chinese as well. For these skills (that he had achieved trough a lot of annoyance, plans of murdering YangYang and the attempt to mentally throw himself off a roof along with a couple headaches) he didn't know wether to bless or curse Wang YangYang, Mark Tuan, Wang Jackson, Luo Yan, Yao Chen, Ye Chen and the others.

So, considering he knew Chinese, had experience with a lot of youngs kids in his own family aapart from his younger Brother as well as living full-time in the dorms, he was assigned to take care of the young boys they now know as BOYSTORY. Additionally, he had a lot of free time in the year that he had to take off from school and apart from debut preperations, he would babysit the boys most of the time. Mostly, he would babysit them with the others, along with Mark and Jackson(when they had no schedules) who had basically apoted Zeyu. But unfortunately, Yao Chen(who was kind of seen as the head of the Chinese trainees) was in China to participate in that goddamn survival show, Ye Chen had left the company a few months earlier(which everybody was still sensitive about) and YangYang and Luo Yan had school in the form of online classes plus dance academies slap them in the face. The rest of the Chinaline? They followed Yao Chen to China, those unloayal fucks (He can still hear their snickers and their mocking goodbye kisses on his cheek that he had been trying to avoid).

Jeongin himself had been busy prepearing for comeback, so the news that BOYSTORY was going overseas was like a dream to him. Not 'cause he hated the kids, but because he was too busy to take care of them. And YangYang and Luo Yan, altough staying at home for their online classes, meant they were to stressed to listen to the whining of a couple young boys while trying to pass their exams and keep up with practice for the monthly evaluation. Ah, the sweet life of a trainee. Jeongin felt that.

Tzuyu wasn't an option, as she was busy with Twice and overseas herself at the time. Plus, the boys hated when Tzuyu would dress them up and put make up on them.

The Korean guys could have been an option- language never mattered as much as actions in JYP andif worst came to worst, most of BOYSTORY understood korean well enough after years of the guys slowly teaching them, but you get the point....

Jeongin got off the train and started walking towards the store which adress he had found out through the cashier and promptly typed into his phone. Having arrived, he entered and looked around. He spotted Mingrui sitting on a chair with rolls attached at the bottom, drinking from a box of chocolate milk and ocassionally nibbling on the straw while telling the old man various stories and probably already having revealed his identety as a artist. Damn.

The dried up evidence of tears running down his face and the puffy eyes did not go unnoticed by Jeongin.

"Gou Mingrui!" He called out, cutting the grinning boy off and drawing the attention to himself. "You gave me a freaking heartattack!"

At least the boy had the audacity to at least look a little guilty. The booming laughter of the old man cut through the air, bringing Jeongin back to reality. He bowed and thanked the man to the point where it got awkward for the cashier and apologized for the incenvenience. They got lucky, Jeongin thought, most people working the night shifts at convenience stores are grumpy and mean and sick of the sketchy crownd that usually drops by at this hour. This man continued to say how entertaining the boy's stories were, and that he was actually happy to have had his company there, and how Mingrui's accented and at points slightly broken korean was the most adorable thing in the world.

He also refused to take payment that Jeongin offered for giving Mingrui, who had clearly not eaten in a while (and knowing him, probably even refused to touch the airplane food for more than a few bites after Hanyu's endless pleading), for giving him snacks and the chocolate milk.

After thanking him a dozen times more, Mingrui sneezed and Jeongin's heart sank. What if he had gotten sick out in the cold night until he swallowed up his pride and called Jeongin? he took the fluffy hoodie he had grabbed from home and pulled it over Mingrui's head, helping him squeeze his arms in the sleeves while the man mumbled that Mingrui had sneezed quiet a few times while here, and that Jeongin should probably get him checked. The hoodie was way to oversized for the boy and nearly reached his knees, but Rui seemed comfortable and pulled the hoodie tighter arounf himself.

After they bid the cashier farewell (not before buying another dozen chocolate milks, appearently Mingrui got hooked), Jeongin tightly grabbed Rui by the hand and led him to the train station, all the while avoiding the sketchy people and the strange looks the two young, and both way too short and petite boys got along the way. In the train, as Mingrui was again dozing off in Jeongin's arms (who had pulled him into his lap and snuggled him into his own jacket as another layer over the probably sick boy), Jeongin took his phone to look through the messages hanyu had most definitely sent and to calm the poor boy down. Really, BOYSTORY's kid leader would lose his hair faster than Jeongin at this pace.

He was shocked to see 104 messegaes and 21 missed calls from Hanyu alone, excluding everybody else. He would be surprised it the guy hadn't called the police yet. Yet, rethinking that, no he surely hadn't. If you report a missing artist from the big three, sepecially a young child, to the police it's guranteed to make the headlines and JYP to get in trouble. From the last few messages that he quickly skipped over he could only see Hanyu's panicked pleadings and his "I'm sorry, baby", "Gaga, pls IÄm worried" and "Gou Gou, Shuyang is crying and I won't rest until i find you, we can talk it out, please just call me". His heart broke at the messages, so they really got into a fight. It was probably something childish again, but the consequences were huge.

Jeongin felt for Hanyu, sweet Hanyu who is so used to being Mingrui's favorite gege and used to taking care of everyone, something he shouldn't be at that age. Hanyu reminds Jeongin of Chan so much, and it breaks his heart, thinking back to first meeting a young, carefree and hopeful Hanyu with big eyes full of excitement and hope that stared into your soul. Chan must have looked like that too, back in the days, Jeongin thought. Jeongin very clearly remembers every night that Hanyu would come crawling into his bed, either because he himself needed Jeongin's or any of the Hyung's warmth and comfort or because one or several of his boys had already sneaked into Jeongin's bed demanding another bedtime story or lullaby and Hanyu had come searching for them. He also remembers everytime Hanyu broke down intears, curling into Jeongin's side, whimpering and insisting that he couldn't make it, that he was a dissappointment and a bed gege and oh god he couldn't even take care of them and-

These moments, altough rare, happened too much for Jeongin's liking. When BOYSTORY were in Korea, at least the rest of JYP could help out. Felix would distract Xinlong for hours with new dance choreographies and Zihao would try on new outfits under Hyunjin's or playful Jae's supervision, along with most of the noonas who would either laugh or coo at the young model and Zeyu would play with Jackson and Mark and Shuyang would try to learn 'teakwando' from YangYang (Jeongin refused to call that mess of limbs and the thousand bruises Taekwando) and Hanyu wouldn't have to do this alone. He would go out and be free of responisbilities and play arounf like the child he is.

So, Jeongin called Hanyu. Not even one ring later, the younger picked up.

"Gaga-" The other line broke of into a sob.

"Han, it's me." Jeongin gulped the lump in his throath down. Altough mostly the Jyp artist were way too playful for their own good, moments like these brought back the seriousness of the businuess they were in.

"I-Innie ge?" he sobbed. 

"Yeah, don't worry. I've got Gou Gou with me. He's fine, altough he might have catched a cold." This seemed to calm Hanyu, who immidiently went back to strict older brother mode.

"Hyung, tell me where you are so I can come murder that troublemaker."

Jeongin laughed. "Jia Bao, i give you every right and permission there is to strangle him. But tommorow, please."

"What about Yao Chen?"

"What about him?"

"Not asking for the boss' permission before sending one of us off to the afterlife?"

"I don't see no Yao Chen here, do you? Nah, cause he ditched us for that shitty survuval show."

"....You're not still salty about that, are you gege?"

Jeongin, unbeknowst to Hanyu, raised a brow. "I never was salty in the first place, thank you very much."

Hanyu made a popping sound "Sure you weren't."

"I wasn't"

"I wasn't saying you were."

"You were thinking it."

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you-" "IS THAT IN-GE? HIIII? WHY DO YOU CAL JIA BAO BUT NOT MEEE??? WHAT DOES HE HAVE THAT I DON'T?!" "OMG YU ZEYU SHUT UP AND STOP THE DRAMA RIGHT NOW WE ARE IN A P U B L I C PLACE!!!!!"

Jeongin chuckled and after a few more words back and forth, they eventually hung up- not without another speech about betrayal from Zeyu with Hanyu cutting in "No, it doesn't matter that it's chines, we're still in a public korean place and-".

And Jeongin, poor, stupid Innie decided to take out his own phone right in the moemnt that acertain hyung was calling. Which made him squeak rather emberassingly loud and nrealy drop both his phone and Mingrui from his lap. He thanked the gods of chicken taht the boy did not wake up, Jeongin thought he was already spotting a runny nose and he would deal with that tommorow, leave him alone.

After hesatating over the accept and decline button, later deciding it's better to not further fuel his hyung, he picked it up only to be greeted with the dangerously low voice of the resident prince charming, aka Hwang Hyunjin.

Damn, he was in trouble. BIG Trouble.

Mingrui was lucky he loved him to pieces.

And that he was sick and delicate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To be fair, Jeongin did not expect to be hit in the face by a shoe when he opened the door to the practice room.
> 
> If only he hadn't fought with Minho.

To be fair, Jeongin did not expect to be hit in the face by a shoe when he opened the door to the practice room.

 

Neither did he expect to be involved in the great JAE-HUN war but oh well, he'll just call Chan later and tell him to pick him up.

 

If only he hadn't fought with Minho.

 

Jeongin's only problem that day was supposed to be studying for the upcoming test that he unfotunately, even though he tried to fight to avoid it, had to attend. Damn JYP, keeping him working on school days when the teacher explains a topic and sending him there unavoidebly when tests come up. He still failed to see logic in that one.

 

So when he opened the door to the practice room, 3 seconds away from having yet another mental breakdown, after a slight disagreement(read: fight) with Minho the least he expected was for him to fall down because of a fucking shoe. Jae could have at least apologized, but then again, Jeongin should know better than to set expectations for Jae. He's as thick-headed as they come.

 

"JEONGIN!!!" Yeonhan, the angel that he is, gasped. But he seems to be the only one to notice his pain, aside from Brian. But Brian- i mean Younghyun was too busyswitching between trying to hold Jae back from jumping Gyehun and massaging his temples. Poor Hyung. These were the moments Jeongin was happy not to be a part of Day6, who he pitied for having to deal with Jae and his fuckery on a regular basis.

 

He already had Felix and Jisung for that.

 

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK IMMIDIENTLY!!!" Gyehun roared.

 

"Can't exactly take back the truth, now can I?" Jae mocked, crossing his arms and pursing his lips. He ignored Brian's exasperated "Don't do that.".

 

Gyehun let out an unholy scream and took of his own shoe, flinging it directly at Jae. All the while Yeonhan had stopped himself from trying to hold back Gyehun and had run over to Jeongin to help him up.

 

Jae gasped dramaticaly as he ducked out of the way. "Did you see that, Brian?"

 

"Yes but i don't c-"

 

"The disrespect I'm getting! I'm the one working hard day and night in order for this company to have fame, for this brats' carrers to have actual futures and a budget!!!!"

 

Younghyun frowned. "Let's be honest, our entire Fandom consists of Seungminie at this point-"

 

"Shut up, Brian." Jae threw a deadly glare in Gyehun's direction.

 

"Excuse my french, but why the fuck was I just hit in the face by what I assume is Jae's stinky shoe?" Jeongin said from his place in Yeonhan's tight grip around his waist.

 

That seemed to draw the attention to him, finally. With Gyehun screeching something along the lines of "Apologize to Jeongin-hyung right now!!!" and Jae's "This little shit started it!". Younghyun just gave him a sympathetic glance.

 

After a lot of screaming and pushing the blame back and forth, the boys eventually had to shut up when their breath ran out. Gyehun took in a deep breath and turned to Jeongin. "Jae said I won't be debuting!"

 

Jae looked offended. "No I did not! YOU proclaimed that you'll be debuting this year, I just said 'I don't think so'!"

 

"Followed by a lot of arguing and a long speech about how Hunnie isn't ready and still to lacking." Yeonhan whispered into Jeongin's ear. "Which leads us to here."

 

"Nice but I'd rather not be hit by a shoe the next time I'm about to have a mental breakdown." Jeongin said loudly, after which he whispered "So much for finding a empty practice room in this damn Agency."

 

"Hey! Being hit by my shoe is a HONOR!"

 

"Uhu, sure. Wash your feet every once in a while, please."

 

"So everybody's just gonna ignore how Innie just said he'll have a mental breakdown?" Brian said, Jae looking ready to pounce on Jeongin but his gaze softened upon hearing that.

 

"Baby what happened?" Jae asked.

 

"Oh the usual. Exams about topics I didn't study while in school 'cause y'know, I was working." Jeongin spat. "Sorry but not everybody can be a full-time student with a halo above his head."

 

Younghyun came over and laid his hand comfotingly on Jeongin's shoulder- the one that wasn't occupied by Yeonhan who had decided to rest his chin there. "Have you talked to your teacher about this."

 

Jeongin looked at the ground. "I did. B-But you know them, they're the stuck up child of the principal and they don't care if I don't graduate from this year." Oh god, Jeongin was frustrated but he sure as hell was not gonna cry now. Just keep looking at the ground and pray the guys did not hear the tremble in your voice, he told himself. Plus, his hyungs had already heard all about the mistreatment at SOPA. Wether they had experienced it first hand by attending themselves or going there for parent-teacher meetings as a substitute for their Dongsaengs' parents. He knows for a fact that they used to do it for Chan back in the day, though Jeongin isn't sure wether that was at SOPA or another school.

 

Meanwhile, Gyehun and Yeonhan were too young to attend SOPA or anything like it just yet. But he knows for a fact that both Yeonhan and Yuna will start this year or, if they're kept behind like himself, next year.

 

"Hyung I already missed a year due to debut prepearations and working, I can't miss another." Jeongin said. He had to deal with almost all of his same-age friends being in the year above him, almost because there were a few cases like his bestie Beomgyu (that little shit). He would never admit that it felt good knowing that Beomgyu had to sit in a class full of 02' Liners as well because of work (though he always had a suspicon that his best friend did not just miss a year because he was busy at BigHit). Sucks that they don't go to the same school, at least Beomgyu had Taehyun with him. And Euiwoong and Hyeongseop, that lucky bastard.

 

"Want Hyung to go there and rip that Bastard a new one?" Jae said, cracking his knuckles.

 

"God no, you violent idiot. You're gonna get Jeongin expelled." Exclaimed Younghyun, who knew Jae meant what he said.

 

"And ruin our reputation for the time when we start at that school." Said Yeonhan disapprovingly.

 

Gyehun scoffed. "With the way things are turning out right now Boss is just gonna send us all over to Beomie#Hyung at Hanlim."

 

"Wow, you all will just leave me to rot?" Jeongin looked at them judingly.

 

"Honestly, the only reason we would ever go there would have been you and Hyunjin."

 

Yeonhan nodded. "We don't have many same aged friends anyway. It's not guranteed that all the same-aged  JYP trainees will go there in the future. For Gyehun, he would be dead without Juna and me? Well, Yuna's probably gonna bully me and Luo Yan and YangYang don't count unless they get an A on the next Korean-Test in the short time that is left before the start of the new term."

 

Gyehun continued. "Otherwise they will have to stick with online classes for all of High School too."

 

"That's just unfair. They work extremely hard, and they're fluent. Why are Teacher's so bitchy about fast writing and grammar??? They're Chinese for God's sake." Jeongin honestly felt bad for them. They're extremely social people, maybe a little too crazy but still good boys. They left their home country, family and friends behind for a oppurtunity in Korea, only for them to be turned down everywhere for not being a native Korean. They didn't really have friends outside of JYP, and a few Korean friends at school could help their language skills even more. Not that they needed any further improvement, if you asked Jeongin.

 

Thinking back, Jeongin felt bad for throwing himself a pity party. These two were off worse than he was, they had been stressed for weeks and were so close to asking Jeongin to help them cheat on their online test for Korean. That is, if the calling out of his name by Luo Yan, then the hesatating and the eventual dissmisment of the original question Jeongin never got to hear are anything to go by. He even suspects he heard YangYang sniffle yesterday when Jeongin had dragged them out to eat.

 

Oh, Jeongin was definitely going home later and helping them cheat on their next test that evening. Fuck his own school issues, he had some brats to save.

 

Jeongin bitterly thought that well, if everything goes to hell tommorow, at least I'll be repeating the year with Luo Yan and YangYang. among other 03' Liners. Maybe they could rope Yeonhan in too. Still, he did not want to think about how emberassing it would be to be two years older than the rest of his class. Eveen tough he was sure nobody would say anything, as Yuna would beat them up the second theey opened their mouths. Jeongin loved her, really (even tough the urge to strangle her was present regularly), but the fact that she was already arguing with Yeji and JYP that she's dropping out of school if she can't take her hardwood hockeystick there everyday kind of scared him. He witnessed her nearly dislocating a boy's arm with that thing for making lewd remarks about her fellow Floorball player friends, and the outcome wasn't pretty. Plus, it was emberassing to damit Yuna and he were the same height (He knew he was short, but come on, Yuna was younger than him and her remarks about him being 'petite' were annoying. "Oh, Innie, you can't try to play floorball! You're too delicate for that aggressive kind of sport" my ass, she just got off on making him miserable.)

 

"Did you tell JYP? Or the SKZ Boys at least?" Younghyun continued, bless him for being such a caring and patient individual. There were times when Jeongin was really young were he honestly thought Younghyun was an angel.

 

"Well... that did not go to well." Oh god, Jeongin could already feel the tears pricking at the back of his eyes and the shame and regret for the arguement hitting him full-force.

 

Younghyun frowned. "What did you do?"

 

"Well.... you know how the Hyungs are constantly on my neck about schoolwork, even when were at scheduals? Minho was being really mean about it when I came home all panicked and told him I was gonna fail this year. He went on and on about.... how he always warned me, and that I should have studied and how I'm being a brat and all..."

 

"Does he know you only found out about that test today?" Jae asked.

 

"Not really. He kind of just started ranting and I couldn't interrupt him until his words hurt too much. And when I did, we immidiently started arguing." Jeongin said. "After yelling at each other about, y'know, me being lazy and me yelling that he didn't have to work while he attended school, so he shouldn't run his mouth. We came to a point where he said I was just using the mistreatment of the school as a excuse and that i was just a no good, spoiled and useless brat that was to dumb to simply sit down a-and study-" Oh god, Jeongin was nearly crying and it was visible, with Younghyun's hand on his shoulder and Yeonhan's grip on his waist tightening. "- and I k-know he probably didn't mean it b-but i was so- so mad! I said some pretty awful things andthrew my backpack at him, then ran away and slammed the dorm door shut." So much for him 'not being a brat'.

 

He was so ashamed, how could he only see his wrongs now that he said them out loud? He could still vividly remember him willing himself not to cry while running away, some stray tears still escaping. He remembered hearing the door being ripped open and Minho yelling his name, but he was already halway down the staircase and out the door. They shared the house with other groups' and trainees' dorms, what if they had heard Minho's yelling or their fight? What if Minho had lost his temper once Jeongin was gone? What would they think of him? More importantly, he was afraid to look up at the faces of Gyehun, Jae, Younghyun and Yeonhan in fear of their judgement. Over his panic he didn't realize that Yeonhan was whispering encouraging words into his ear and hushing him softly, all while Younghyun's hand had moved from his shoulder to caressing his hand. He also didn't notice Jae's heartsbroken look and Gyehun wide eyes.

 

Jeongin didn't even know if Minho had run after him or if he was pacing the dorm currently, biting his nail by habit and waiting for Jeongin to come home. He was probably throwing death glares at the clock that Hyunjin's mother had insisted they hang up. Jeongin thought about simply hiding away in one of the trainee dorms on the ground floor and sleep there for the night, he knew they wouldn't mind as he was close to all of them and would be understanding and even give him their own pijama's instead of letting him sleep in his school uniform but he wasn't sure wether he'd do it. The hyungs would only be angrier tommorow, and would probably manage to find hi today, still, and drag him back before the sun goes down. What would Minho tell them, anyway? That Jeongin was being difficult and ran away?

 

Thinking about it, had there been any other members home during the fight, hidden away in their rooms? Considering the volume of their fight, Jeongin doubted it as no one came out. Jeongin hadn't had time to check, he had only entered the dorm and came face to face with Minho, after which the whole thing went down.

 

There was always the risk of one of the boystory members deciding to crawl into his bed tonight of all days, and realizing he's missing if he does decide to stay with the other trainees. And notifying the boys would only lead to them blabbering it out to his Hyungs. Should he seek help from GOT7? Half of them were abroad, and altough he could coax strict Jaebum into helping him by using his puppy eyes, he was sure BamBam, even tough he didn't mean any harm by it, would text Chan and rat him out. Chan would be even angrier at the thought of Jeongin trying to use their Hyungs to escape their wrath.

 

He didn't register Younghyun performing breathing practices in front of him, but he uncounsciously followed them until he calmed down. When he did, he heard Yeonhan whispering sweet nothings into his ear.

 

"I think you should go back, though. I can see the wheels turning in your head, and avoiding the whole thing will only lead to a worse outcome, baby." Younghyun stated. Jeongin nodded, he knew that.

 

"But how will I face them?? I said some pretty mean things and i- i am scared, hyung. Minho is surely fuming by now, ready to murder me!"

 

"Knowing him, he's only angry from worry. You did run away without notifying him where you're going, right?" Most of the time, Jeongin found it annoying that his Hyungs had a rule where they needed to know about his where abouts 24/7, but now he just felt guilty for not telling them. He knew he couldn't lie to them either, the time where he lied about going to a library when he was really going to the arcade with friends proved that, Hyunjin had literally stalked him that day and was furious when he found Jeongin at the arcade. He knew that his Hyungs were just protective, with sasaengs and all that, but he wasn't a damn child (at least he thought so, but he surely was as much one as Gyehun and the rest).  "Plus, he knows you can be pretty impulsive when upset, the bruises on your face last time proved that." Oh yeah, the time Jeongin got into a fight in the park. Jaebum, Jackson, Hyunjin and Taecyeon had showed up at the boys' doorstep with bats when Jeongin returned home with bruises covering his face and refusing to tell them anything. Though, he did crack after a round of screaming and shouting, but that was a story for another time. He also didn't want to imagine what his Hyngs did to the guys that caused the bruises, poor them.

 

Jeongin Stuck his hands (one which he relucantly ripped out of Brian's soft, comfoting grip) in his pockets and found that he (thank god) had both his keys and his phone, which is on silent mode, on him. He also thanked every deity there is when he realized he turned of his location information on his phone, that would have been a dead give away to his hyungs.

 

"Give me your phone." Jae insisted, and Jeongin did. Jae frowned at the phone and read aloud. "9 missed calls and 17 text messages from SexyKnow" Minho (for Jeongin's defense, he had taken his phone and named himself that) "3 missed calls from Bear Dad" Woojin, fuck his Hyungs have caught on. "7 messages and 1 missed call from Emo Brat" Changbin, obviously. "And 8 missed calls and 5 messages from..... Satan..." Seungmin. Figures.

 

"Other than from what I assume is Minho, the others were a couple minutes ago, so they must have only recently found out and are currently informing the others." The WooSeungBin trio must have just gotten home, then. "So if you don't want more trouble, I suggest you go home now."

 

Jeongin turned his gaze back to the ground. "I'm not ready yet. C-Can I stay with you a little more?" the 'please don't text my hyungs just yet' went unsaid, but the others caught on anyway.

 

"Of course you can, baby." Jae cooed and ran to push Yeonhan, who huffed offendedly, out of the way and hug him from behind. Gyehun ran forward to hug him from the front, seemingly unbothered by having to physically touch Jae, who was also draped over Innie, in order to do so. Seems they made up, even though they had considered each other arch enemies less than 10 minutes ago.

 

Oh the power Yang Jeongin holds.

 

He only had one question, admist all of this.

 

As pleasing and comforting as it was, why was it JYP artists' habit to start babying the other when they are distressed???

 

(Not that he could argue with that, he does it on a regular basis too.)

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

After having spent a few more hours laughing and lifting his spirits with the other four (as well as Juna and Seobin, who had later joined them), it was finally time to face the beast(s).

 

After Jae had (probably illegaly, an issue if he wasn't a JYP artist) confiscated one of the agencies Black Vans they drove back to the dorm, Jeongin felt a sense of dread settle when Jae returned his phne to him. Jae had kept it the whole time to keep Jeongin's mind off things and calm the boy down, but now it was time to face it all. Jeongin hadn't even dared to look at the screen a single time since he got it back, but the light that signified new notifications on the side of the screen had been blinking continiously, must have been doing it for hours.

 

So when they got out of the van, Jeongin pulled his Hoodie over his head when the seven of them entered the dorm-building. He did that so his Hyungs wouldn't see him in midst of the group if they were looking out a window. He had half expected them to be guarding the entrance to the building, but they entered without issues and Innie got his hood pulled down by Younghyun and his forehead flicked. As they slowly hugged goodbye, the trainees back to their assigned dorms, Jeongin and the two Day6 sunbaenims continued up the staicase, as both their dorm were higher up and they decided to take the longer route rather than the elevator for, y'know, nerve calming.

 

Jeongin toyed with the idea to beg the two Hyungs to enter his dorm with them, maybe the presence of Hyungs would calm his own down and maybe win Seungmin's little fanboy heart over to Jeongin's side. Though, that idea was quickly shot down when the two squeezed his shoulder one last time, pushing him over to his dorm door and continued up the stairs after giving him a thumbs up. They were probably waiting out of side but in hearing range to hear everything go down, Jeongin thought. Maybe they'd intervene if worst came to worst.

 

So, with no other option left, Jeongin took a deep breath and stuck his keys in the hole, trying to be as silent as possible.

 

He slowly opened the door, checking for any light. After seeing none in the hallway of the door, he entered silently and peeked around the corner and surely, there it was. Light was shining from the living room and distressed voices were talking.

 

"Let's look one more time, he couldn't have gone far- INNIE!" Jisung shouted, seeing a few strands of red hair poking out from arounf the corner, quickly sprinting over there when he heard rapid footsteps from that direction, running towards the entrance door.

 

Oh god please no, Innie though, this was a mistake, this was all a mistake. NONONONONO ABORT THIS NONONONO-

 

He never got far though, when a pair of strong arms wrapped around his middle and a angry, pained voice lowly whispered into his ear. "And where do you think you're going?"

 

Jeongin gulped. "C-Chan-"

 

"Living room. Now." Chan growled before dragging him over to the couch. altough he kept his gaze down, he caught a glimpse of a wide eyed, distressed Minho having jumpt up from the couch. He looked like he'd been running his hand through his hair too much, maybe even ripping a few strands out. Jeongin felt guilty all over again. The fact that Felix, sweet angel Felix, threw him a dissapointed, clearly pained and teary look didn't help.

 

After all his Hyungs had sat down, Chan standing just in case Jeongin decided to make a run for it, with Jeongin's still gazing at the ground, the mess started.

 

"Where have you been." Came Jisung's choked up voice.

 

"I- I needed some time- i-" Altough it came out quietly, it seemed like a booming voice for everyone in the room. Chan snapped.

 

"DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED WE WERE?! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST ANSWERED ONE OF OUR MESSAGES OR SENT SOMETHING TO THE GROUPCHAT LIKE 'OH YEAH; BTW I'M ALIVE HYUNGS' SO WE DIDN'T HAVE TO ASSUME YOU WERE KIDNAPPED?!!"

 

Jeongin flinched at Chan's loud voice, and the Jilix duo seemed to almost come forward to hug him, but held back. Jeongin felt terrible. he did that. He made Channie amgry. Chan, who was way too good for them, who was working day and night for them all the while battling several mental disorders and depression. He only added to the stress, and suddenly the statement that 'they would make him lose his hair one day' bacem way too painfully real. Jeongin started silently sobbing, something Chan didn't realize in his anger.

 

"I've already made sure Minho got punished, now it's your turn. All over a damn fight! And a childish one at that." Chan exclaimed, furiously flinging his arms around. "What were you thinking!!!!"

 

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't w-want to upset anyone-" And then, right there, Jeongin broke down and started wailing. Everything became silent. "I just wanted to get a-away- 'm sorry Hyungs. A-And 'm sor-sorry Min-Min Hyung-" He sobbed loudly. Even tough he found it embarassing to cry in front of anyone, it was okay in front of his Hyungs, who would usually comort him since he was a young trainee. Even so, he still felt awful and ashamed every time it happened and this time, nobody came to his aid.

 

"I- I said s-some things--- Minni Hyung i- I never m-meant theeeem!" He sobbed, furiously rubbing at his eyes with his sleeve and curling ob on the grounf afterwards, face buried into his knees.

 

He felt someone hugging him from behind, encouragingly kissing his back. He felt a wettness there, an realized the person was also crying. He was the victim of many kisses from his hyungs, so hecould clearly tell that this particular one came from none other than Hyunjin.

 

He glanced up at Minho with teary eyes. "Y-you were right. And 'm sorry for being a stupied, useless, annoying b-brat a-and-"

 

"No, baby noo" Minho interrupted him. "Please don't say that, Hyung was lying. Hyung was wrong, Hyungs was just being very, very dumb-" he chocked out.

 

Chan looked at the crying maknae on the floor and instantly felt sad. "I-I don't understand is it our fault? Did we not try to teach you stuff? Did we not put enough effort into it???" Chan ran a hand through his hair. He had to adress this issue. He couldn't bare Jeongin ruining his own future because of some grades that he had sworn to make up for, to take responsibility for because they had kept the boy from attending school. He had forced Jeongin numerous times to sit down after classes and do his homework, had stayed with him and Woojin and they had both taken turns explaining the tasks to him. Jeongin was never good with things like maths, and Chan tried to put his diploma to good use for once.

 

Even when visiting other countries, Chan had secretely packed some of Jeongin's schoolbooks when the sneaky teenager tried to hide them and play it off as 'sorry hyung, i forgot to pack them'. Most of the time, the teenager at least managed to keep his grades up with all 8 of his hyungs as regular teachers, so why was he failing now?

 

"N-NO hyung!!! I- I only found out about it to-today-"

 

"TODAY?!?!?!" Changbin roared.

 

Minho was shcoked "What do you mean today??? Why didn't you tell me?!"

 

Jeongin looked at him. "Y-you didn't let me explain."

 

Minho felt terrible. He had completely lost his shit when the maknae had told him he would defeniltely fail, he had been so worried. He had always been teached that you could be soft with someone only to a certain point, then you had to spit out the harsh facts and be strict. "Hyung is sorry, I was so so so wrong baby, please don't cry-"

 

"Will somebody explain to me why he only found out about it today?" Woojin sounded dangerously calm, like the calm before the storm and the whole room became quiet save for Jeongin's sobs.

 

"I-I wasn't in school due to c-comeback promotions and today she said- said that if I fail tommorow, she'll make sure I'm expelled."

 

"WHAT THE FUCK!!!" yelled Changbin.

 

"That bitch better NOT! Who does she think she is!!!???"

 

"The principal's child???" Jeongin said.

 

"I don't care! NOBODY MESSES WITH INNIE AND THAT'S FINAL!" and with that, the room broke into chaos.

 

Chan and Woojin crouched down next to Innie. "You're staying at home tommorrow. Calling in sick. Text Samuel and ask him wether he has anything about the ktoüic written down, and if he could send you. Look through your book and then we're learning with you tommorrow. That woman will either let you retake the test or she deals with us, and I doubt she wants JYP to publicaly shame them and add to the scandal. So calm down, okay baby?" Jeongin nodded, feeling smaller than he already is at the pet name. Woojin kissed hid forehead. "Good, now let's get changed and get you to bed. Felix?"

 

Felix and Jisung immidiently took him by the arms and took him into his room, away from the comotion. Meanwhile the others returned to making plans on how to kill his teacher.

 

After changing into his pijamas and drying his tears, as well as texting Kim Samuel, Jilix put him to bed. Not before gracing his whole face with kisses, leaving no place untouched and making their baby giggle. They finished their embarassing torture by pressing kisses at the same time each to one side of his cheeks and then kissing his forehead before turning off the light, checking one last time that their baby is covered in a blanket and happy before closing the door and returning to the rest.

 

Oh, hell was gonna come to that teacher in form of his Hyungs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, again, unbetaed. sorry.  
> So in the last chapter, we saw Jeongin being a hyung, so why not see him being a dongsaeng this time?  
> I didn't want to potray him as a crybaby as other stories like him to be, but let's be real, he is a teenager. Therefore, a child (bold of me to say, being younger than him). He gets distressed and needs guidance.  
> Also, I'm probs gonna intoduce Bang Yedam in either the next Chapter or the one after that. 'Cause I'm a sucker for Yedam and Jeongdam and it has to start somewhere, right?  
> But I plan to put YangYang and Luo Yan in the next Chapter either way, so you'll actually see those crackheads. Also, sorry for my grammar as english is not my first language nor will it ever be.  
> And I know I have the tendency to make way to long sentences, as I've been told, but please bear with me. I don't realize I do that most of the time and I try to stop but it's a habit.  
> Ok, the authers' note is too long so sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

"So basically, I'm no longer a human being. From today onwards, i identify as a chicken nugget."

 

Jeongin raised his eyebrows at Woojin. It was too early to deal with this. "Well, so much for 'a change' " Jeongin said, then continued to eat the breakfast that woojin forcibly put in front of him and forcibly made him eat. 'you can't go to school on a empty stomach, innie!', as woojin put it.

 

"So what's next, will Jisung go back to living in the zoo?"

 

There was a crash from the only currently occupied room in the dorm (other than the kitchen) which sounded oddly like somebody falling off a bed. Woojin furrowed his eyebrows, staring at said room door while jeongin rolled his eyes (he was half tempted to sigh, but unfortunately he had food in his mouth and if he knows one damn thing it's that no matter what you do not waste food.). Jeongin kept his back turned to his and Jisung's shared room.

 

"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU??!!" Jisung roared, and suddenly Jeongin was glad there was no one to wake up in the dorm who could pick up a bat and chase Jisung around the apartment.

 

"Woojin Hyung i swear to god, Ji wil lose his last freaking barincell if he keeps this up." Jeongin muttered under his breath, mouth still half full.

 

Woojin raised a brow, one hand on his hip. "Bold of you to assume he has any working braincells left."

 

"So you finally show you face, huh?" Woojin asked as he watched Jisung slam open the door, banging in against the wall (cue a glare from woojin). He locked his gaze onto the maknae's back immidiently and stomped over. "What did i do to deserve this disrespect?!"

 

"You breathed."

 

"Jeongin, give the squirrel a valid answer and Jisung, stomp one more time and you'll take a beating there are trainees living underneath." Woojin said, turning back to making pancakes.

 

"No but seriously, what did i do wrong?" Jisung asked. Jeongin turned around and wordlessly looked Jisung up and down, before he glared at the metal piece on his hyung's wirst.

 

"First of all, take that goddamn watch off for once. There is literally a clock hanging in the kitchen, what even do you need this for?" Jeongin said in disgust.

 

"Wait, Jisung, did you actually sleep in that thing?" Woojin asked in horror, and maybe (read: defenitely) a little bit of judgement.

 

"This watch is cool." Jisung said, trying to make a point.

 

"Well, now we know who took 'Get Cool' too seriously." Woojin said, turning back to his pancakes, abandoning his children to figure shit out by themselves. Jisung growled at Jeongin, or rather his back, slamming his hand on the table next to Jeongin's plate in an attempt to catch the boy's attention.

 

"Brat, why are you up so early anyway?" Jisung asked him.

 

"Woojin dragged me out of bed to force breakfast on me."

 

Woojin turned around, threathingly pointing a wooden spoon at Jeongin. "Don't act like you don't love my pancakes. And you needed that breakfast."

 

"No I didn't-"

 

"Mother knows best!"

 

"Not my actual mom but who cares:" He shrugs.

 

Woojin clutches his heart, Jisung immidiently rushing to his side and catching him from falling, screaming something along the lines of 'mom please don't go'.

 

"THE BETRAYAL!"

 

"Ah, there is my morning dose of unnecassary drama. Thanks, hyungs." Jeongin said montonely.

 

"He's a demon in the disguise of an angel!" Jisung shouted, pointing a shaking finger in Jeongin's direction while still holding their now passed out mother.

 

"We've been knew." Jeongin answered, standing up. "I'm leaving."

 

"Wait, doesn't school start at 9 today?" Jisung asked. after recievng a nod from Innie, he continued. "Where are you going then?"

 

"The practice room."

 

"and why exactly are you headed there?" woojin, revived from the dead, joined in.

 

"a certain someone is requesting my presence." Jeongin said. It's true, partly at least.

 

Jusung furrowed his eyebrows and looked like he was about to say something- maybe question him, maybe protest- but choose to keep his mouth shut in the end.

 

"kay, but make sure not to be late for school or both me and chan will whoop your ass." woojin said, pressing a pancake filled plate into jisung's hands, who still had his gaze fixed on the maknae.

 

"yes mom!" jeongin yelled from near the door, backpack already slung over one shoulder and putting his shoes on. He couldn't be late anyway, considering he had to register both luo yan and yangyang for the next schoolyear.

 

When yangyang barged into jeongin's room and pounced on the poor boy who was laying on his bed the day after he helped the two cheat on their last korean test(don't tell chan pls), jeongin was startled to say the least. The boys' reactions kept changing drastically in the next few minutes, from throwing a piece of signed confirmation paper at jeongin's face, to performing a awkward victory dance to hugging the hell out of their hyung while being close to tears all the while.

 

Well, that meant jeongin had at least two people from the same agency at school. Hyunjin, that little shit, had just graduated along with Daehwi, another cheater. Yuna decided to join Beomie at Hanlim (jeongin still didn't know how to feel about that) and the rest were still too young for high school. There's also Yeonhan, along with a few others, but they hadn't been showing any indication of having decided just yet. So having these two crackheads came as a blessing to jeongin.

 

Jeongin bid one last goodbye, stuck his tongue out at jisung and ran out the door. He had a boy to find. 

__________________________________________________

 

"Ya! Binnie!!" Jeongin yelled, greeting the back of what he was sure was his friend with a kick. The boy, however, turned around last minute and caught his leg, turning it around and pulling. Not with the intention to hurt jeongin, but rather to make him fall.

 

And he succeeded, jeongin fell with a yelp, landing on his back and a familliar body settling above him, pinning his hands down. 

 

Jeongin looked up and was met with a satisfied smirk. God, he missed that smirk. Though it hurt him to realize that the smirk from the boy who usually brightens up everbody's day seemed more tired than usual, if only slighty.

 

Still, the boy was incredibly beautiful, as always. Fair skin, sweet, booming voice and hushed giggles that were sometimes way too close to jeongin's ear than what is considered appropriate.

 

Jeongin guessed the cheeky boy above him would always be that beautiful in everthing he does. In how strongly he cares, in how he sees through every lie, in his ability to outshine the sun itself, in his breathtaking smiles, in how he would gently caress someone's hand after practice and in how deeply he loved. BUt his gaze would always be fierce, full of passion to the point that it scares people.

 

"hi, innie." Yoon Seobin said, in a hushed voice, staring at jeongin triumphant but also looking at him as if he put all the stars seobin oh so loved in the nightsky. When actually, if you asked jeongin or any sane person who knew Yoon Seobin, the stars were all caught in Seobin's eyes.

Jeongin sucked in a breath. Not that he was in love with Seobin or anything- oh god no- the thought actually made him want to puke. Seobin was simply the kind of beauty, the kind of person that would make even the boldest and most outspoken people speechless, turning them into what seemed to be lovestruck fools. That was just the effect Seobin has on people. But he can also be annoying. Incredibly annoying to the point that Jeongin and their other friends wanted nothing more than to punch the boy. Curse Seobin's reflexes and his (slight, if you asked Jeongin) height advantage.

Jeongin remembered the reason he came here and sent a glare at the boy towering above him. "Don't 'hi' me, Bin. What did you want from me that you would call me here at the ass crack of dawn?"

 

Seobin seemed to physically flinch at the words reminding him of the actual reason for texting Jeongin. He caught himself quickly, however, and said "You should seriously wash that mouth of yours before Yao Chen returns or going near BOYSTORY. Honestly, I should just record you and send this to Yao Chen and Chan so that they could see how rude you are to your Hyung, brat."

 

"Still debuted earlier than you, Loser." 

 

"I'm trying! I'm about to!" Seobin argued, a flustered blush falling over his cheeks. Then he seemed to cave in on himself. "...well, maybe not." He whispered, avoiding Jeongin's gaze.

 

Jeongin, taken aback, simply stared at the boy. "Wait, are you serious? Is this what I think it is?" Seobin continued to avoid his gaze, however he made no signs of trying to argue with his statement. "Are you worried about the whole survival show thing again?"

 

"How did you feel when you had entered that survival show, Innie?" Seobin choked out.

 

"Scared. Fucking terrefied. But I managed."

 

"Well, at least you freaking knew everyone there, most of them for years! And Chan chose you to be in his group, all of you, at least you knew that you were wanted, that somebody chose you for YOU! Imagine how I feel." Seobin raged, though Jeongin knew not to get offended by whatever he would say. This was Seobin's bad habit, defending himself and trying to cover up his sadness with harsh words and rough facts. Sometimes, it would escalate to insults which would leave both parties involved hurt and guilty. So Jeongin had to remember that Seobin, whatever he would say next, did not really mean it, there was no reason to get hurt or offended. Jeongin also knew that Seobin, contrary to popular believe, is a really fragile guy who gets hurt easily. He is especially vulnerable in these kinds of situations, too.

 

"That doesn't make the fact that the whole fucking nation is watching and judging you less terrefying. You don't know how often I wanted to break down in front of JYP, or how often I had to hear that there was no actual talent in me, that my skills were just averege, and I was just there because Chan loved me too much to leave me behind. That he decided to drag the no-good me along instead of the boys who had actual talent and promising futures." Jeongin said.

 

"Well, what if the other trainees despise me? I've already read a bunch of comments talking about how the only reason I ever got in was because I'm under JYP, that I have it easy. I don't know if I can stand somebody saying it to my face." Seobin said, close to tears and voice shaking. "I couldn't stop thinking about it the past few days. What if nobody wants to befriend me? What if they start gossiping behind my back?" Seobin leaned down and rested his forehead against Jeongin's shoulderblade.

 

"It's gonna be fine." Jeongin wrapped his arms around the taller boy. "They wouldn't even dare to open their mouths after seeing your skills. You need to remember that you are not only there because of JYP, but because of YOU! Your talent brought you there. And how do you know it would happen, maybe not all the trainees are so immature and jealous?"

 

"It happened to Somi, though." came Seobin's muffled voice from his shirt. It only now occured to Jeongin that if Seobin started crying, he would stain Jeongin's uniform. "I just wish that JYP wasn't the only one of the Big 3 to send their trainees there. Or that I at least wasn't the only JYP guy parcticipating, that I wasn't the only one to defend the company's name and represent it."

 

Jeongin got a thought, smirking as he remembered what a certain musical Genius teased him about not long ago. "From what I heard, JYP isn't the only Big 3 company who decided to bettle this year."

 

Now that caught Seobin's attention. The boy promptly raised his head and stared at Jeongin's smug smirk with wide eyes. The fact that he was still so incredibly handsome after just having gone through a near-breakdown with tears and everything is just unfair. "The fuck do you mean?"

 

Jeongin's smirk widened, if possible, at the disclosure of the information that wasn't yet made publical and only he knew. "From what I got told, YG is sending about 3-4 boys there this year. They're probably going through the same crisis as you right now, so hust make friends with them"

 

"You mean YG's sub-label?"

 

"No, YG himself. Plus Daehwi's been saying that Seokhwa will be there too, so at least you already know someone."

 

Seobin seemed relieved at the fact that he wasn't the only one with too much pressure to face. "Wait, how do you know about that, Innie?" 

 

Jeongin frowned. "We all have contact with Deahwi?? You too, actually. plus, I'm part of 3 group chats with him so what do you mean how?"

 

Seobin rolled his eyes. "Not Daehwi, obvioulsy. I'm talking about YG." 

 

Jeongin didn't answer.

 

Seobin continued to press. "Jeongin, did you-?"

 

"Whatever you think, it's not it!!" Jeongin proclaimed, blushing. Cue Seobin's mischivious smirk.

 

"Yoon Seobin, don't even think about it. Anyway, I gotta go. Get off me." Jeongin sat up, throwing the taller(and older) whining boy off him in the process. "Duty is calling."

 

Jeongins stood up, then proceeded to look back down at the older who was till on the prectice room floor. "Anyway, Seobinnie. Don't forget one thing: whatever anybody tells you, you are amzing and talented. You are worth the world, and you're gonna debut, no matter how tough the journey there will be." Seobin smiled at that, gazing softly up at his friend and goddamnit did he look beautiful. Jeongin's seriously gonna throw hands if Seobin will not be announced the visual of PDX101's new group.

"And you will make lots of friends, like you always do, just by opening your mouth" Jeongin added with an afterthought, a smile playing on his lips. "Just don't lose your voice again because of being nervous. Your gaze actually intimidates people, especially coupled with your handsome face. They're gonna think you're some arrogant snob!"

 

"HEY!"

 

"And please don't proclaim your love for TWICE everytime you open your mouth. It's gonna freak everybody out!"

 

"YA, YOU BART!" came another loud protest from the floor.

 

"Anyway, don't you have a episode to film? Isn't it scheduled for today, and then to premiere in a couple days?"

 

"Why do you think I came running to you, brat, when I could have been sleeping? Filming is in a few hours, thus meeting the contestants for the first time is also in a few hours." Seobin grumbled.

 

Jeongin ran to the door, smirking. "Don't forget to tell Seokhwa we love and miss him! And make friends with the YG boys, ok?"

 

(at the time, Jeongin had no way of knowing that dear Seobin would became close to a certain ex-YG trainee two years older than himself, but who could've?)

 

Before Jeongin could grad the door handle, however. He heard another question from the boy who was chuckling mere seconds ago. "Did you hear from Yao Chen? Appearently, Zhennan is on the same survival show as him. Funny, right?"

 

Painfully ironical would fit it better, if you asked Jeongin. He didn't turn around, altough feeling Seobin's burning gaze on him the whole time. He refused to face him.

 

The thought about Zhou Zhennan left a bitter taste in his mouth and made the hole in his chest hurt all the more. Not that he expected the ex-JYP trainee to feel the same.

 

Zhou Zhennan was made out of hushed giggles and a blinding, almost devilish smile. He was awkward late night kisses, many of them. He was cuddles in the night, the warmth radiating off of him and caressing Jeongin's hand in the process, gazing at the boy impossibly close to his face while Jeongin pretended to be asleep, even when the cold fingers would start caressing his warm cheek. Zhennan was the late night trips through Seoul, sneaking out even if both of them where quite unfamilliar with the city and, for the chinese boy, the language, and for the busan-born, the accent that would often be seen by him as unrecognizeable alien-language. Zhennan was messy whispered conversations, constantly switching in between Mandarin, Korean and sometimes even english, but both still ended up somehow understanding the other, as language never mattered.

 

Jeongin still felt the firm grip on his waist when the two were fooling arounf in the practice room with duo dances, or when Zhennan would pin the other teenager to the floor or the wall with the firm grip never leaving Jeongin's waist. Jeongin still felt the traces of the boy's lips on his own, as if they were burned into his skin as a endless reminder of their escapades. Jeongin still felt the unbearable pain from when the boy just simply left.

 

So no, Jeongin did not find it funny. He found it torturing, to know that the boy who ripped his heart to shreds was still chasing his dream and succeding rather than being here and chasing that same dream by his his side, maybe even joining Seobin in that damn survival show.

 

Though Jeongin did know that the boy was on the same show as Yao Chen, after having read his name from the top 10 list of the show, where the boy's name stared back at him as one of the most popular, while Yao Chen's was on 43rd. He remembered trying to convince himself that it was the too bright light of his cellphone that made his eyes burn in the dark of his and Jisung's shared room in the dead of the night instead of the name that was written there in perfect Chinese. 

 

Jeongin had, altough he had promised himself out of a petty arguement with Yao Chen that he wouldn't watch that damn show, in the end watched it. And altough he was proud all the while of Yao Chen's passionate smile and his effort, which turned into sadness and anger when Jeongin found out he was unfairly moved to F-rank, seeing Zhennan damn face hurt so damn much. He recalled a time where he was the one tracing said face's features, convincing its owner of it's handsomeness and making said owner beam. 

Jeongin suspected the boy had simply forgotten him and moved on, if his carefree attitude on TV was anything to go bye. That damn asshole looked relieved, free of everything and anything and Jeongin once again began questioning himself if the boy was happy to be free of the burden that was Jeongin.

Jeongin did not even notice how Seobin's gaze had long since left him, staring into blankness. 

"I didn't know." Jeongin mumbled, too quiet for the large practice room but still loud enough for Seobin's ears. "Are they friends? Do.... Do they get along?"

 

"I don't know." Seobin said. Jeongin, altough never having openly told this Hyung about the nature of his and their fellow friends' relationship, was always suspecting that Seobin somehow knew from from the very beginning. Always. "I just thought I'd mention it, y'know. Found out about it a couple days ago from Yao Chen."

 

Jeongin nodded. He forced one last smile onto his face, hoping it didn't seem too fake or bitter, before turning to Seobin one last time. "Well then, do your best today, Loser." Before ripping the practice room door open and starting his journey through the school day.

 

A loud yell of his name followed by a long rant was the last thing that Jeongin heard before tuning everything out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... before anybody starts killing me, i had this chapter drafted out anf half-way through written since my last fucking post but unfortunately, school decided to fuck me over. I had to go through the end of the year exams which would determine half of my eventual mark in the concerning subjects. And frankly, I'm not really content with how this chapter turned out, thus the lack of phrases or information at points, and i am simply tired. My next exam is in 2 days, and it's a english exam and i wanna fucking die. there, i said it.
> 
> and btw, if you can't tell, my language skills have been broken lately, even in my native tongue, so don't be surprised about the bunch of grammatical errors and that whole stuff. I really gotta fix the errors at some point, I'm sorry, i know i suck.  
> And if you don't know who Zhou Zhennan is, shame on you. Open your google right now and search that god's name name like wtf????  
> I might post another chapter today, keyword being MIGHT. I already have the comcept for the next 2 chapters, both playing in SOPA, both featuring Bang Yedam and one even featuring yangyang and luo yan, finally. One is set in January tho, for a good reason while the other is still undecided, but closer to the present.
> 
> Ok, that a long ass authors' not i'm srry. Leave reviews and feel free to bash my cringey english.


	4. Chapter 4

**January 2019**

 

New Year's Eve was one hell of a roller coaster, and so was everything that followed. Along with the sudden news of Hyunjin's graduation, which is set to happen in less than a fucking month, everything in Jeongin's life was going kinda crazy, leading up to this point.

 

New Year's Eve itself was pretty hectic, most of the JYP artists, especially the ones form overseas or different cities, stayed behind at the dorm building this year and spent it together with the other artists and trainees there, while the staff of JYP went back home for celebrations. So basically, they left the artists of what is considered to be the most immature Agency in the industry, JYP (whose artists also possess the brains of 3 year olds), unsupervised with a bunch of trainees of what is supposed to be a holiday celebration with parties. You can already tell how that went.

 

Plus, the part with the fireworks? Y'know, the one that involves actual fire setting them aflame? Yeah, they don't talk about that shit, especially when the burns Jackson and BamBam are sporting speak volumes already.

 

Fingers crossed that JYP will never find out anything about that night, god knows that man doesn't need another heartattack.

 

Everybody's been on a constant high lately, anyway. With the whole news of Graduating, followed by the news of ITZY's debut along with a bunch of other plans upcoming that year, things have been crazy. Ans altough the news of the little pincess' birth have been public since last year, now that the estimated date of birth is overdue in January, everbody's been anxious about the upcoming birth of JYP's daughter. For all they know, she could be born today, or next week or in the middle of a schedule. Point is, JYP ENTERTAINMENT is finally getting a little princes and you bet your asses that they are gonna spoil her rotten.

 

YG has two children, who seem to be close with his artists, along with several children from his own artists, like Tablo. Even SM has a son, who is Dowoon's age and can therefor not be treated with constant hugs and kisses and pats on the back anymore. DAY6 would argue, as they proclaimed that they won't ever stop this kind of treatment towards Dowoon, even when Jeongin's poor fellow Busan boy will be 60 years old.

 

Oh, the Maknae struggles. Hyungs and Unnies can't relate.

 

Yet, despite the several comebacks and full packed schedules lining up right now, here Jeongin is, walking to shool with his face mask on and his scarf heavily wrapped around himself (curse winter temperatures, goddamnit), after being dropped of by his driver not far from here. The driver got a notifictaion and had to leave early, as he had to get ITZY to their shoot for their teaser. So relucantly, he had to leave Jeongin to walk the rest of the way by himself, hoping for only a few of the usual fansite shots to take place in his absence, while he had to get the new group to their shoot. God knows you should never make a photographer late, they were worse than CEOs if you asked Jeongin, and they get SERIOUSLY pissed when somebody is late for the appointment.

 

It is still beyond Jeongin's understanding how he was forced to attend school that day, ALONE, while Hyunjin gets to stay with Woochan in the studio. Jeongin is stressed, cold, pissed and tired from the past weeks constant working and pacticing, along with the usual dose of JYPE's unnecessary drama, topped with the anxiety from JYP's pregnant wife being held in the hospital since last week due to 'safety reasons', as the doctors justified, without any further elaboration.

 

Jeongin was gonna either murder himself or Hyunjin. How dare that bastard leave him alone in school when he had only a few weeks left where he could enjoy the company of Hyunjin (not that he really did), a fellow JYPE artist and a fellow member. (If Hyunjin were here right now, he would tell Jeongin to stop bitching like the boy didn't know any other people at the school, hell, Jeongin and Hyunjin had a ton of friends involved in the businuess there. Still, Jeongin would miss the random visits where Hyunjin would barge into his classroom one minute brfore break started, angering Jeongin's bitch of a teacher and making Jeongin's whole class, regardless of gender, drool over KPOP's 4th Generation's Prince, Hwang Hyunjin. Not that Hyunjin ever payed attention to the shy stares and love confessions, when all he was looking for was Jeongin, eyes constantly scanning over the crowds to find the short boy.)

 

The difference was that altough Jeongin had quite a few friends(or at least enough to get around), Hyunjin knew the whole school (or rather was known by the whole school), to the point where there wasn't anybody who wouldn't recognize the boy's name or face. If Jeongin had to categorize Hyunjin, he would go with the 'popular guy' that was common in hgh school dramas, the guy everbody knew and worshipped and would literally kiss the grounf he walked on (again, not that Hyunjin ever noticed). The guy who made everybody's heads turn towards him when he passed the hallway. The one who got Jeongin all the death glares when he clung to the younger or draped himself over Jeongin.

 

Jeongin sighed, entering the school grounds and walking into his classroom, sitting down at his desk after throwing his backpack on the ground with a thud and banging his head on the table.

 

"What's got you so upset this time, Foxy?" Jeongin peek up to see Park Jisung's face looming over his own, and thought about how it sometimes sucked to be in a class full of 02' liners. The only other two 01* liners in his class rarely associated with him, after all.

 

"Hyunjin is graduatiiiing" Jeongin whined, before turning his face down to face the table again and leaving his face laying there.

 

"Prince Charming is doing what???" Came Kim Samuel's voice, followed by the feeling of Sammy's fingers running through the hair on Jeongin's exposed backhead.

 

Jeongin let out a whine again, after which he pretended to break into tears, all the while his voice being muffled by his table. "And along with Daehwi too, that bastaard." It sucked, that Deahwi and him were barely a month apart but the first one got to attend classes with the 00 line while he was stuck with the mean but sassy (just like Jeongin himself, if you asked literally anybody who knew the boy) 02 liners.

 

"Stop acting like it's the end of the world." Jisung frowned.

 

"But it is!" Jeongin whined, snapping his head up, hitting Sam's hand in the process. "My friends, who I'm spending lunch breaks with, are leaving. Permanently this time!"

 

"Yah, brat, stop acting like we don't spend every break along with you too. So we just don't exist anymore???" Jisung asked, mock offended. Who ever says this kid has manners and is shy doesn't know shit about him, really.

 

"Yah, you are the brat here. I'm older than you!!"

 

"Then why are we in the same class?" Jisung, Park effing Jisung, had the actual audacity to stick out his tongue WHILE age shaming Jeongin. Refusing to call him Hyung and teasing him is one thing, but this? Nuh-uh

 

A little while later (filled with the two arguing while Samuel watched) ,after Samuel pointed out that several og the TRCNG and THE BOYZ 00 liners would leave with Hyunjin and Daehwi, followed by another bitching session by Jeongin and another series of banging his head on the table, Jeongin finally had enough.

 

"Just tell Hohyeon that he's my only hoe, even after my unfortunate passing," cue a snort from Jisung, "and tell Jimin to stop being a little shit and overworking himself. And tell Kangmin to stop existing, please."

 

"Which one?"

 

"The VERIVERY one, altough you can pass the message to TRCNG's as well. They both got serious issues." Jeongin said. "Oh, and also tell Yoon Hyunsuk that he is an angel, and that Kai gets both my phone and everything in my bank account after I die. My other belongings go to Beomgyu and Yeonjun, respectively."

 

Jisung raised another eyebrow "Nothing for Taehyun?"

 

"Nah, that snitch's dead."

 

"What did he do this time?" Sam asked.

 

"Let's not even get into that." Jeongin groaned.

 

"And why is Ningning getting your phone?"

 

"Reasons. Just make him delete everything off it, and then he's good to go. I don't need the goverment finding me after my death." Jeongin mumbled. Sam raised an eyebrow, throwing a nervous glance towards Jisung as if to confirm wether or not the 17 year old was bluffing.

 

What concerned Kim Samuel was that he never got a reply, not even after the bell signified the end of the free studying period and they went off to break.

  
_________________________________________________________

 

Jeongin was convinced that Park Jisung was the devil. And the fact that Chenle, altough the dolphin boy had a worse personality than his korean soulmate, had to attend online classes left a bitter taste in his mouth. There goes another 01 liner.

 

But anyhow, Jisung was the devil. Running off after they went down to the lunch hall and hiding in the crowd was one thing, but not coming back? As far as Jeongin knew, the immature shit was watching him from somewhere in the crowd and having a blast while Jeongin tried dialing his number and locating his friend's phone, without succes. Jeongin also knew that the younger was waiting for Jeongin to go looking for him, but the sleep deprived and annoyed Jeongin was sadly not about to do that.

 

So he collected his last remaining dignity along with his dark eye circles and turned around, leaving the lunch hall and deciding to come back later at the end of break to get his lunch. Jeongin didn't even care wether or not Jisung was currently trying to push through the crowds in order to get to the exit and run after his friend, which proved to be unsuccesful as by the time he got there Jeongin was already gone and he lost sight of him, completely.

 

The only issue now was that students were actually forbidden to be in the building that housed the classrooms during breaktimes, but Jeongin was already to far gone to care about anything today and so he ducked out of the teachers' sight and sneaked back into the building. The initial plan now was to either get back to his classroom or spen the break hiding on the toilet. But as he was about to take the stairwell, he spotted his (spiteful) math teacher descending down the stairs out of the corner of his eye. So, before the teacher could spot him, Jeongin used his small stature and nearly non-existent weight to silently make a dash down the hallway and run up another flight of stairs on the other side, leading to a different floor. All while not being caught (his Hyungs called him fox for a reason that did not only consist of his witty and sassy personaity and his way with words and swooning people into liking him).

 

So now, on another unfamilliar floor, his plan changed to hiding in either the bathroom stalls or a random classroom, but considering he was rather unfamilliar with the layout of this side of the building (he misses school most of the time, after all), he chose the bathrooms.

 

While walking towards one of the bathrooms, foe which he had to take a few turns down several other halls, his train og thoughts (which mainly consisted of him questioning his life chioces) was interrupted by the sound of music nearby. While trying to pinpoint the location of the melody, somehow feeling drawn to it, the melody abruptly stopped playing and the sound of somebody slamming what Jeongin recognized to be the keys of a piano out of frustation was heard.

 

Jeongin waited a few seconds, staring down the hallway that he heard the music from until it started playing again and Jeongin almost uncousciously followed it's sound, as if hypnotized by it, until he stopped in front of a door whicg he recognized to belong to the music room. They called it a 'room', which was rediculous considering the size reminded Jeongin of three practice rooms in one, plus the backroom filled with several instuments. But Jeongin guesses that in a school that revolves around encouraging it's students artistic abillities, the size of the art and music rooms are nothing to be stunned by.

 

If Jeongin had to tell this story from his perspective, he would like to say that he went in immidinetly and caught the culprit that was spending break in the facilities, like him, but that was not what happened. No, instead Jeongin just stood there face to face with the door for a solid few minutes and flinched everytime the artist, who he had to compliment on his piano skills(really!), messed up again and slammed his hand over the piano keys, the intsument releasing a hrrifying sound mixed with the curses coming from the artist before resuming to play.

 

Jeongin, who finally decided to find out who his fellow rule breaker was, took a deep breath beore slowly opening the door, the sound of which was being drowned out by the melody playing. And only know, when there were no barriers between him and the artist, did he actually notice that the boy sitting on the bench, producing music with skilled fingers, was also singing to it. Sure, it was unsteady and unsure singing, kinda like the boy only just leraned the song, but oh boy was it beautiful. The voice of an Angel, Jeongin would call it.

 

And only then did Jeongin actually take in the features of said musician. A familliar face with a tense expression and passionate eyes that went in and out of focus, probably due to the visible tiredness the boy was experiencing. The boy was no older than Jeongin, though he could pass as a little older by appearance (but Jeongin normally just looked like a child, especially with his petite state and the braces that everybody would coo over when he grinned). The familiar face screamed 'mature', something that pained Jeongin when he knew that the boy shouldn't have that look, coupled with lips that would quirk into a awkward smile, full of giggles and raw happiness that infected everybody around the boy and made them feel a little giddy, even. A familiar face that, upon gazing at it, brought Jeongin back to that time, in the practice room while battling, when he first met the boy. He remembered how stunned he was, how invested he was in the voice of the boy back then when he sang that song, and how he feels when he hears that voice once again.

 

Jeongin was no stranger to talented people and even more talented singers, he was in the entertainment industry after all. For Gode's sake, he was in a group with Chan and Seungmin and, most importantly, the prodigy which goes by the name of Woojin (he can already feel Chan's disapproving frown over not counting himself in. He never really understood what fascinated everybody about his own voice, never understood why Chan was so insisting on giving him more lines and why everybody wanted to 'fight JYP' for him. He couldn't understand why they wasted time on him when he looked at all the talented singers around him. Though, that might be his insecurities talking, it would surprise you what the industry can do to the mind of a young teenage boy who should be more worried about not getting caught sneaking out with friends or forgetting curfew rather than wether or not he is useul to his group, or wether or not he'll even be relevant tomorrow.).

 

So yes, Jeongin was no stranger to singers. But none of them could compare to Bang Yedam.

 

Speaking of Yedam, he had just again stopped his doings and gowled out loud in frustration, before slamming his head onto the piano keys, a shrill sound filling the classroom.

 

Jeongin stood there for a few more seconds, the room completely silent with Yedam still resting his head on the keys and Jeongin already having closed the door behind him. Jeongin took the time to take in the surroundings of Yedam, after which he spotted a paper filled with lyrics and music keys sitting on the piano, the paper being in Yedam's eyesight the entire time while playing the instrument and only then it hit him. Yedam was trying desperately to perfect a song, which was probably so recent that he didn't even have a recorded melody for it but rather a deadline that was coming closer and closer, laughing at the poor boy mockingly and whispering failures and fears into the younger's ear. Jeongin knew that feeling too well, too.

 

Altough he knew of Yedam going to this school (how could he not, when the boy was one of the most talked about topics, especially recently, as well as the top ranking student in every exam) and being in another class, but in the same year as Jeongin, they never really interacted. Jeongin knew him from his own survival show, but after that they never really interacted except maybe for a few glances, but never locking gazes.

 

Talking about a survival show, the boy's expression and state suddenly become painfully obvious to Jeongin. Wasn't there a survival show going on right now, with Yedam as a contestant? If he believed the latest gossip, at least (plus Taehyun mentioned that YG was having a bloody battle between trainees, titled Treasure or something similar, Jeongin wasn't really paying attention at the time).  Suddenly a feeling of kinship bubbled up in Jeongin, as Yedam's senior, and a feeling of pity (a survival show and exams at the SAME time? Dam the industry is going nuts). But most of all, the feeling a painful irony triumphed over the others. Jeongin frst met the boy when he was going through his own hell, and now, as he meets him again after more than a year, he is going through that same hell, fighting relentlessly for his dream.

 

And before he could stop himself, Jeongin made his presence known.

 

"That's not the way to learn a song in a whim, y'know. There are better ways." He said, breaking the tense silence and making the boy across from him jump up from his position of resting his forehead on the piano. And when their eyes met, Jeongin was left with a bitter tase in his mouth upon saying the pain and tiredness and desperation and the uncoming, held back tears in the boy's red rimmed eyes.

 

The boy furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Jeongin with interest, probably too tired to recognize him right away other than the fact that Jeongin seemed familiar, before his eyes widened. "You?"

 

Jeongin grinned at him, unbothered by the informality of the younger. Jeongin and Yedam never really exchanged words, only a encouraging gaze and hand motions back in the days of the survival show, when Jeongin was the only one that noticed how scared the young boy was when he walked up to the mic, and sent him his encouragement when the cameras weren't focusing on them. It had earned him a smile from the younger, filled with gratitude and warmth and sudden confidence.

 

"I'm guessing this is due soon?" Jeongin said, nodding at the sheet of paper.

 

Yedam followed his gaze and stared blanky at the sheet before nodding. "Tomorrow morning, actually."

 

Jeongin frowned. From what he heard earlier, there was no way to be able to perfform that song perfectly by tomorrow morning, it sounded like Yedam had tried it out for the first time. "When did you get it?"

 

"Today, actually." Yedam said, dazed.

 

Jeongin let out a ungodly noise. "Excuse me, but what the fuck???"

 

His reaction must have been humorous to the younger, as he saw the boy*s lips stretch into a genuine smile for the first time that day.

 

"So I take it, no recording either?" Jeongin continued, sighing.

 

"Obviously not." Yedam said, and Jeongin could tell he was not trying to come off as mean or anything so he didn't question the boy about the tone of his voice or the word choice to his senior. Hell, Jeongin would be perplexed if he was treated with respect by a 02 liner, or anyone for that matter. (tho he liked to tease Ryujin about how she soon would have to call him sunbaenim, but that was a story for another day, and so was the bruise on his hipbone).

 

"Tomorrow, I'll bekicked off the team" Yedam whispered, and Jeongin guessed that by the low volume, he was not meant to have heard it. "Tomorow, I'll disappoint everybody, Mom and Dad, my uncle, my friends, I'll go back to being a trainee like i was for the past six year i-"

 

"Hold up hold up hold up!" Jeongin interrupted the boy's near-breakdown mumbling, and walked closer to him. "Don't even say that, it'll make things worse than they are. And I'm talking from experience."

 

Jeongin gripped the boy's shoulder's and forced him to face him, the red rimmed eyes threatening to overflow with tears as the younger spoke. "How can I even fix this, huh? I just told you, it's due tomorrow morn-"

 

"Believe me, I've lived through that. And once you debut, you'll have a lot of instances where you have to improvise or find ways to learn whole choreographies in less than an hour. Fuck the industry, by the way. The point is, I'm an expert at last minute stuff." Jeongin said, walking over and sitting down on the piano bench and picking up the sheet of paper and reading through it.

 

Jeongin nodded, eyes till glued to the paper, feeling Yedam's unwavering gaze on him. "You already know the tones, or do we have to go over that?"

 

Yedam shook his head, indicating that he knew at least that much.

 

"Well then," Jeongin thurst the sheet into Yedam's hands. "Time to perfect this, you got a show to win." Jeongin set up the second sheet that contained the piano notes and cracked his knuckles.

 

"It's impossible to learn the song when playing the tune yourself, and it's impossible to play without the tune, so I'm gonna be your recording and you concentrate on singing." Jeongin said. Yedam seemed to get a kind of gleam into his eyes, a gleam of hope and relief.

 

"You play the piano?" Yedam asked.

 

"Yeah." Jeongin answered curtly. He did, really, play the piano. Years of being a trainee and stuck with a bucnh of musical idiots contributed to that immensely, so did the year that he had to take off from school. Jeongin said his finger over the right keys, he was confident enough in his skills that he knew he would get it right on the first try without practicing it beforehand.

 

He glanced at Yedam "Ready when you are." He grinned, only now becoming way too aware of the fact that his braces where showing and that Yedam was staring at them, before chuckling slightly, a deep and rich sound. Goddamnit, Jeonginwas delighted about getting them removed in a few days, contrary to his sulking hyungs.

 

And so, the two idols (or rather, idol and soon-to-be idol) spent hours in the music room, happy that it wasn't reserved for any classes today, forgetting that break ended hours ago and that their classes have started and ended long ago, too. Jeongin would later, when he realized this, pray for Jisung's well being that the devil at least took Jeongin's bag with him.

 

And between messing up a few times a laughing their asses off at the stupidest mistakes, the boys actually found a unspoken satisfaction in missing their classes. When Jeongin played the piano, it was comforting to him, in a way. While Yedam's beautiful voice played in the background, Jeongin focused on the faint feeling of Chan's fingers over his, guiding them over the keys and teaching him the most beautiful of melodies, often taken from one of the song's Chan produced. The thought of a smiling, content and proud Chan was always comforting, and Jeongin could already feel that smile nuzzled against his neck when the older was sleepy or when he pressed a kiss to his cheek.

 

It also reminded him of Wonpil, who would spend hours on hours with him and Chan in the studio at times, bringing various snacks and take-out food with him and praises for Jeongin's improved piano skills, and altough Wonpil's lessons consisted of him playing the keyboard instead of the good old piano, Jeongin found that he didn't really mind (or see a difference in it).

 

And then there was Yedam's voice. Jeongin didn't think he could find ways to describe it, or any words that were wothy of it. It was Beautiful and strong and breathtaking and emotional and familiar at the same time. It gave him a feeling of home, for whatever reason, warming his heart and making Jeongin feel secure, protected, safe from the world and anything that could hurt them, as if nothing could ruin them while they were inside that room, survival shows and schedules forgotten.

 

When the boys finally stopped, Yedam was bouncing up and down from the relief of having learned the song perfectly, memorized it and but his own unique touch to it. It was already sundown outside, and Jeongin was filled with dread for a second when he realized how much time had passed and how his hyungs might have tried to reach out to him through his phone, that was still in his backpack. But that dread left him in a second, when he layed his eyes upon Yedam's delighted smile that went from ear to ear, the boy fondly gazing at the sheet of paper.

 

"Gimme your phone." Jeongin said. Yedam looked surprised, but handed it to him. "You might not know about this function, but let me tell you a secret, it might come in handy when you debuted." Jeongin put a finger to his lips, emphasizing on 'secret', and Yedam's eyes followed the older boy's finger to his lips. Then he started to light up, something about the statement of him debuting just made him feel certain ways, especially coming from the boy in front of him, who had basically just proclaimed that he believed in Yedam and his abillities.

 

Jeongin clicked something on his phone and started playing the piano one more time. Yedam watched the boy's fingers move quickly over the keys, melody sounding in the room. Yedam took in the boy's features in the yellow light of the sundown carefully, appreciatievely, amazed. Something about the older's content, far away expression just made something in him click, and he felt comforted by the mer presence of the older. Yedam knew him, of course, but he felt ashamed for forgetting his name. He had not once called it out in all the time they've been here, but neither had the older called out his (as much as Yedam unknowingly craves to hear the sound of his name coming out of the boy's mouth, travelling over the boy's lips in his mischivious but calming voice). Yedam desperately hoped he wouldn't have to adress the boy by name during the time they had left, or hoped that the older had forgotten his name too, to make it less awkward. He could research about the older when home (he was an idol for chicken's sake, his face was all over the internet and he knew the boys company).

 

Jeongin handed him the phone back, and pressed the play button that appeared on the screen and lo and behold, the song's tunes came out of the deviece in full clearness, like an actual recording. Jeongin grinned at the younger's perplexed expression.

 

"Learned that from my hyungs, we have a lot of stress too. Proves to be very useful most of the times." He pushed the phone back into Yedam's hands. "Here, if you need to practice later but I'm not there."

 

Jeongin put his hands into his pockets and with one last smile (which made Yedam disappointed, he liked the boy's grin and he felt a bunch of butterflies having a cold war in his stomach everytime the older's braces were on display), Jeongin put his hands into the pockets of his jacket and started walking towards the door. Yedam followed, and they talked all the while walking to the exit. Not before going to Yedam's classroom and grabbing said boy's stuff. (They went into Jeongin's briefly, too, only to find his stuff along with his phone missing. Jeongin guessed Jisung did the deed).

 

After exiting the school, Yedam immidiently stopped upon seeing an angry man in front og YG's black van tapping his foot up and down impatiently, glaring at Yedam with the phone is his hand. Yedam guessed that the driver tried to call him, but Yedam was too invested in perfecting the song to even think about getting his phone from his backpack and checking. The driver looked at Jeongin and raised an eyebrow, and Yedam innerly cursed. No way this wasn't gonna get reported to YG in some way.

 

Meanwhile, Jeongin's driver cleared his throat and Jeongin looked at him sheepishly, grinning while Yedam was having a staring contest with what seemed to be his own driver. Jeongin walked over to his driver and said "You lat me walk this morning, don't complain about waiting" which made the man roll his eyes and point to the car door. Jeongin chuckled, turning around.

 

"Do well tomorrow. I'll be wathching and cheering you on." Jeongin called. Yedam, who was already getting into his own van, looked to him and called back.

 

"Thanks. For everything." Yedam said. "I'll do my best, knowing you're watching. Gotta prove that I learned that song faster than you ever could, right?"

 

"YAH! You brat!" Jeongin called, before getting pushed into his car and the door being shut. His driver gave Yedam a look bordering between confusion and judgement upon spotting the YG sign on the vehicle, before getting into the driver's seat and starting the car. Maybe Jeongin should be worried about a lecture from JYP, but nah.

 

And even on the ride home, when Jeongin had to listen to his driver's non-stop ranting about 'not answering your phone' and 'mingling with the wrong people' among others, Jeongin could only hear Yedam's cheerful voice echoing in his ear and couldn't but smile like an idiot (which made his driver yell at him even more).

 

(And maybe, Jeongin tried to deny the giddy feeling and the butterflies in his stomach and tried to fight the smile creeping upon his face at the mere thought of the younger. Not that he would ever admit.)

 

(Jeongin also later found out that Jisung, the little shit, had one of SM's drivers drop his shit off at SKZ's dorm, which naturally sent his hyungs into a full on panic attack and earned him an earful and a demand on where he was. And even when being wrestled to the floor and teased all night, Jeongin wouldn't step down and tell them where he was. The wary look his actions recieved from Seungmin went unnoticed.)

 

(As for Yedam, he entered the practice room with a full on pout which refused to go away and a sour feeling, due to his time with Jeongin being cut short. His friends didn't really know what to do with him, or what was bothering him, so they just let it slide. And the only indication they got to what their friend did in the time that he was missing was when Yedam went and connected his phone to the stereo box of the practice room, starting to play the piano melody of their song. Well, they would bother him about that another time, they had a final stage coming up in less than 24 hours that would decide their futures.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was more of a flashback than anything, taking place a day before YGTB ended, but yay for jeongdam. Been sitting at this for a couple of hours, and guess what, only now realized that a hour past since midnight and it's my birthday???? Jeongdam makes me soft and stupid.  
> I'm still not really content with how the chapter turned out, but am i ever???   
> Who cares, imma go take a shower and update as soon as i can. I plan to make Yedam more witty in the next chapters, so yeah.


	5. Chapter 5

"Yuna you there is a thing called sleep? Yeah me neither, thanks to you" Jeongin whined, rubbing his eyes with his too long sleeves.

 

"Oh shut it, as if you even sleep." Yuna rolled her eyes, referring to his insomnia. She gripped the bat and lifted it up, resting it on her schoulder and using her other hand to grip onto the other end of the bat from behind her head.

 

"and i will continue not to if you decide to drag me here at the ass crack of dawn without any reason whatsoever." Jeongin said, glaring at his younger friend.

 

"for the last time demon boy, i need you to have my back for this," she rolled her eyes. "even if you're weak and short, you have enough braincells left to dial Sungjin's and Jinyoung's numbers if shit gets bad. Or Jaebum's and Jackson's, depends wether we need mom material or bros to beat the shit out of those brats."

 

"You're literally gonna let Jackson jump a snobby kid?" Jeongin frowned. "damn, your lack of morals is tragic."

 

"you know what's really tragic? The fact that you're a boy and two years older than me, yet i am still taller and stronger than you."

 

"For the last time, we are the same fucking height."

 

"Tragic." Yuna shrugged. Jeongin groaned.

 

"Ok, quick rundown of the situation. What did they do and why are we here when classes only start in like, 2 hours?" Jeongin demanded.

 

Yuna's gaze darkened. "Remember those boys i told you about."

 

"How could i forget, you talk about them all the time." Jeongin snorted. "did they annoy you again, or what? Yu, if you're gonna keep responding to their actions they're never gonna stop anyway. Though I'm pretty sure they're scared of you now, anyways, after the whole incident last month."

 

Yuna looked away at the mention of last month.

 

"Yu, you do not deal with bullies by fucking sneaking into the boys' locker room during PE, stealing their underwear and hanging it up at the top of the front gates for everyone to see. You're lucky you didn't get suspended for that stunt." Jeongin said, pulling the hood of his hoodie further of his head. It is true, Yuna did cause these boys quite the emberassment and left them without any undergarments for the rest of the day. Yuna was lucky only those boys knew it was her who did it, and that they were easily persuaded(read : threatened) by Minho showing up at the front gate the very next day, gripping onto their shoulders way too tightly and cheerily suggesting to 'have a talk' with them. From what Jeongin knew, the boys now ran the other way whenever Yuna, even  without her bat, was anywhere near them. And what happened to her good old Hockey stick?

 

"They're kids, Yuna."

 

"Fucking wimps, that's what they are." she spat. "and it's your fault anyways, you do not just give me an idea this good and expect me not to go through with it."

 

Jeongin could feel the headache coming. There was a point where whenever Yuna would return to the dorms and complain, he would tell her that these boys are simply 'infants, still fucking wearing diapers with snot running down their noses, they can stop making lewd comments at people and pretending to be at the top of the world by bullying everybody, it's pathetic'(when you start growing up, you actually start to see how pathetic the bhaviour of those younger than you is). Appearently, Yuna took out of context that diapers are literally underwear for babies, and that somehow formed a plan in the girl's twisted mind. And now she pins the whole blame onto Jeongin. To be fair though, the boys later did wail like babies when the whole school snickered about their spongebob and ninja turtles underwear.

 

Jeongin really felt strange, telling Yuna off for something ot berating her as if he was an adult. He is by no means grown up, and is maybe even more childish than Yuna, so him being the voice of reason left a bitter taste in his mouth as something he has never experienced before.

 

"I thought they leave you alone now?"

 

"Would be nice if we left it at that, but nah. Wimps started feeling confident again since their little group got a new leader. there's a new guy who joined about two weeks ago, started hanging out with them and they kinda, for whatever reason, put him on a pedestal and declared him the leader of their little cult. He's been annoying us the last week. Well, not me directly, I guess his little group is still too scared to bother me, but he stares at me all the time, and doesn't even look away when i catch him." Yuna explained.

 

"altough they don't target me exactly, they bother my friends and my floorball team, constantly harrassing them and making lewd gestures and remarks, and spreading gossip about them and how they are just 'sluts begging to be fucked'."

 

Jeongin frowned. those boys were 16, at most, so what the fuck. "The new guy too?"

 

Yuna frowned, staring into space. "I'm not completely sure what he does, actually. But he's always with them when they shit talk, and even though i never saw him actively participate, he's always smirking. Plus, they started acting up again only after he joined, so i guess he does something?? maybe give out commands, or form plans on how to bully people?"

 

Jeongins sighed. "So what was the tip of the iceberg?"

 

"they insulted Chaeryeong." yuna deadpanned.

 

Jeongin foze. "excuse me?"

 

"They insulted Chaeryeong. Called her a slut, shamed her appearance, spread rumors about how she only got into JYP because of her family's wealth and all that stuff. Called her several slurs ofr ugly that i will make sure to carve into their skin once i'm done with them."

 

Jeongin felt a surge of what may have been a mixture of adrenaline, anger and pure, unfiltered rage in his veins. Chaeryeong is a freaking angel, really. She is one of the kindest and most pure people you could find in the industry, she's always there to comfort everbody with hushed giggles, late night conversations and hugs and tons of disney movies and snacks. And in Jeongin's eyes, that's waht makes her one of the most beautiful persons in the world. Altough most people call her ugly. Jeongin doesn't understand why, but Jeongin doesn't understand a lot of things when it comes to society's beauty standards. He only knows that appearently, Chaeryeong doesn't fit in any of them, and neither do he himself and Changbin. He isn't as affected by it, but he hates seeing Changbin's flustered look when he pulls his bangs futher over his eyes in an attempz to hide his forehead more, as if his bangs weren't already long enough. He hates seeing Changbin's cheeks go red whenever someone calls him fat, hates the way Changbin looks down at his very muscular body and, when he thinks nodoby is looking (altough Jeongin always is) pinches his non-existent fat and scrunches up his face. He hates the way Chaeryeong sometimes comes back from a quick 'beauty fix up trip' to the ladies room whenever another photographer insulted her face and said it doesn't suit her idol image. He hates how he is probably the only one who notices her puffy eyes from crying after one of those trips.

 

And then there are the many comments about him, of course. 'demon', 'ugly', 'fake' whenever he smiles, 'skinny', 'too short', 'disappointing'. He cannot say that those comments do not affect his already low self esteem. If somebody asks, he would simply admit to being ugly (he can already feel the hyungs' and noonas' rage, if they ever found out). He knows he wasn't chosen to be in stray kids because of his visuals, he doesn't really know why he was chosen, to be honest, if it wasn't for Chan selecting him he wouldn't be here for sure.  He knows it's unhealthy whenever he feels so small next to Hyunjin, who is dubbed as 'KPOP's 4th Generation's Prince', and oh boy does he deserve that title. He knows it's unhealthy to sometimes stare at Hyunjin's face too long, admiring how no matter what kind of (sometimes ridiculous) facial expression he makes, he still looks godlike. He knows it's not healthy to compare his features to those of Hyunjin, like the online communities often do, but he just can't help it. He also knows that when walking alongside Hyunjin in the school hallways(at least when his hyung was still in school), he shouldn't feel emberassed for himself, shouldn't feel the contrast of them weigh down upon his shoulder, shouldn't look at the judgemental stares of the other students who pass them for too long. He can see it in their eyes, the statement of 'they don't fit', 'why isn't Hyunjin surrounded by more beautiful things, like himself?' and 'that boy is in the way of my sight of Hyunjin'.

 

Hyunjin's nickname in school was not 'prince' for no reason. His nickname in the dorm was not prince for no reason.

 

(Altough Jeongin quickly shuts that thought down, remembering how Hyunjin hates when people disregard him as nothing but a pretty face and a pleasant personality. When his members call him prince, he lights up and smiles like the sun- when others call him that, he still smiles but that warmth and light that Jeongin feels in the privacy of their dorm is just not there. Sometimes, Jeongin would see just how orced that smile was at times.)

 

Jeongin has some pretty handsome Hyungs, and he knows it. But Jeongin has always been a person that finds more beauty within and in actions rather than looks, altough he isn't blind and can recognize a handsome person, he finds something beautiful in everyone. Even if it is the strangest of things- shape of face or ears, the light that flickers in one's eye and nobody but him seems to notice, along many other things.

 

Chearyeong is beautiful. Chaeryeong is etheral. Chearyeong is sweet and kind and caring and an angel. Chaeryeong has the kindest smiles. Chaeryeong doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. Chaeryeong soen't deserve to cry herself to sleep.

 

Chaeryeong is in no way ugly. Chaeryeong is his friend.

 

And if there's one thing that pisses Jeongin of, it's seeing his friends hurt or upset. Even more so when he knows the cause of it.

 

Jeongin took a deep breath and looked Yuna, remembering what she said earlier. Jeongin knew he looked scary when he wasn't smiling, especially when he uses his Busan accent and a deeper voice and a glare, which he is doing now. "Yuna, when did you say Ryujin is coming? Cause if she isn't here soon, we're gonna kick some ass without her."

 

His younger frined smirked.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

 

After having sat down in the guy's classroom, according to Yuna, they started the waiting process. Yuna said that the addition to the group of bullies usually comes in early, and Yuna decided to drag him here extra early in order to be sure to not miss him and still get businuess done with him before class starts. so while Jeongin was scrolling through his phone while sitting in one of the chairs in the classroom, Yuna was at the front, swingin her bat and practicing. At one point, Jeongin found out that Yuna's hockey stick recently got confiscated by the principal of Hanlim, who is looking for reasons to suspend her(even when she has been attending school for less than 3 months). So now that they tried to 'take away her freedom', as she put it, she dicided to upgrade and take her 'Bat of Death' to school(the wooden one, not the metal one). She also had a pipe somewhere at home, but Jeongin's pretty sure that Lia hid it (Bless her).

 

They waited for about a hour and a half before the classroom door opened. Yuna, at the front, didn't seem to notice the back door located near Jeongin opening. Jeongin opened his mouth, ready to start his daily quarrel with Ryujin, before looking up and halting in his actions. He had expected it to be Ryujin, because he had texted her their location and she had to arrive soon anyways, but instead he came face to face with a boy.

 

Jeongin sat still for a while, simply taking in the other's features as the boy did the same with him. His face kinda looked foreign but at the same time... kinda familliar? Has he seen this guy somewhere before? Was he a teen model? He did look pretty handsome, and he definitely was taller than Jeongin (but isn't everyone?). Their gazes met eventually and they just simply stared at each other.

 

The other boy finally decided to break the uncomfortable silence. "Who are you? I don't recall you ever going to this school.! he said to Jeongin.

 

At this, Yuna whipped her head around at record speed, the bones of her neck cracking (one day she will die from that istfg). Her eyes immidiently zeroed in on the boy and her gaze darkened, sharpened as if she was looking at her prey, ready to pounce. Jeongin thought that perhaps, she did.

"Finally decided to show up, huh?" she barked. Her eyes flickered over to Jeongin. "In, that's our guy."

Jeongin eyes went wide, his head whirling around to gaze at the boy again. this is the brat insulting Chaeryoung? he certainly didn't look like a typical bully, nor did he even look Yuna's (and the other bullies) age, he actually looked closer to Jeongin's. his manner of speaking was more nonchalant, uncaring or even bored, but that also wasn't a clear sign of bullying. Honestly, if Jeongin would have had to categorize upon first meeting without knowing about his past actions, he would have compared the boy to Seungmin- personality wise, at least.

But well, insulting Chaeryoung still results in a death penality, and Jeongin could care less what the boy looked or acted like.

Even so, as Yuna began to spit insults and way to graphic threats at the boy (in the back of their minds, they had given up on waiting for Ryujin long ago), and jeongin thought he saw something akin to fear(wariness?) in the boy's eyes, jeongin still kept quiet, looking the boy up and down, hands crossed in front of his chest and sitting just as nonchalant as the boy acted. The boy barely reacted to Yuna's threats, save for the bit of sweat Jeongin caught running down his forehead. The reaction must have surprised Yuna, as all the other boys, her age or older, would have been cowering in fear by now.

"Do you have nothing better to do other than bullying younger kids?" Jeongin asked, now sure that the boy was older than both Yuna and the bullies he appearently lead.

The boy looked into Jeongin's direction, cracking a smirk. "Bully?" He chuckled. "All i did was point out obvious things to those brats, they were the ones who decided to run over to the people in questions and take that new information out on them."

Jeongin's eyes narrowed (due to both annoyance and the sudden cocky, confident way the boy spoke in, as if proud of his actions). "So you called them sluts?" Jeongin repeated in his native Busan accent, the vocabulary naturally being more disrespectful and the accent itself rough. "What gives?"

They boy shrugged(tho he looked a little fazed by the new tone of speaking Jeongin took up with him). "If they act that way, i'm not at fault." 

not taking his eyes of the boy, Jeongin asked. "Yu, what year did this guy go in again?"

Yuna looked at him "second year, as of this year. But although his class entered high school last year, he was only added this one."

Interesting, Jeongin thought. So the boy was similar to him, it seems. The 02'Liners entered last year, but the boy in front of Jeongin was defenitely(at least a little) older than that. So he skipped a year, got transfered here(Jeongin was sure now that the boy was foreign, manners, accent, appearance and everything combined) and decided to play a little with the younger kids in his class.

Jeongin laughed. "You really do have nothing better to do than go around bullying kids younger than you, huh?"

That seemed to strike a nerve, the boy now openly glaring and growling at Jeongin. "Shut up- if it wasn't for that damn show, i wouldn't even be here! If it wasn't for that untrained brat that stole my place, i-"

Then it hit. That's where Jeongin knew him from. This boy was a failed idol trainee, formerely in a survival show. And Jeongin knew exactly which one.

"Wait, is that why you're targetting Yuna and her friends? Because it annoys you that she managed to debut and you didn't?" Jeongin suddenly felt the urge to punch the guy's face bloody, and he barely restricted himself.

at least the boy had eniugh brain to look down and not stare at Jeongin's face as he raged. Yuna was simply standing next to Jeongin, taking in the information that was just thrown at her, her mouth sligtly opened.

and this brat dared to insult Chaeryoung?

Just as the boy seemed to take up enough guts to spit another insult at them(that's judging by his facial expression, or maybe he just wanted to retort or defend himself, not call Yuna a slut), the door to the classroom was thrown open with what seemed to be superpowers, or rather the strength of an enraged girl who just nearly threw the door of it's hinges.

There stood a heavily panting Chaeryoung, Ryujin trailing after her, both looking like they just ran a marathon.

Chaeryoung took in the scene before her and scrunched up her face in rage. "Shin Yuna, Yang Jeongin, how dare you?" she barked, which seemed louder than it actually is due to the silence in the empty classroom, all attention on her.

Yuna had the audacity to look ashamed, her cheeks slightly turning red, moving closer to Jeongin (who had jumped up from his seat somewhere in the middle of confronting the boy).

"Unnie, this asshole," Yuna glared at the boy, the boy doing the same. "made you cry. You don't understand, he-"

"Shin Yuna." the room went silent. "This is my problem, and i'm gonna deal with it in my way."

She then turned her gaze to Jeongin. "Innie, aren't you supposed to be at school right now, one that is a good 25 minute drive away?" Chaeryoung grumbled, and Jeongin felt Yuna next to him wince.

Jeongin was rather unaffected by his friend's rage, and he also refused to tell her that Yuna had dragged her here. The girl didn't deserve to be bashed at for worrying about her unnie, even if she went overboard and this might have (if the two girls hadn't showed up) ended in a bloody disaster (or not, depended on wether jeongin decided the boy deserved the bat or he should stop Yuna).

However, Chaeryoung lives with Yuna, and knows her inside and out- maybe even better than Jeongin, so it was no surprise that the barely concealed wince from the younger girl was enough of an indication as to what happended.

"Really, Yuna? Not only were you ready to beat Keita bloody, but you also made Jeongin skip school? Do you know what trouble you'll be in when Lia and Minho find out? or his other hyungs?"

While Yuna seemed to curl up on her herself upon Chaeryoung saying 'when' instead of 'if', the boy, Keita, scoffed at Chaeryoung. 

"As if she could have" 

"wanna test that theory out?" Jeongin barked, making a move to take the bat from Yuna's hands with every intention of making Keita finally shut up. Keita startled and jumped back a few steps, farther away from Jeongin.

"Jeongin." Chaeryoung said, her voice carrying an underlying warning.

"How did you even know that we're here?" Jeongin asked, his gaze turning to ryujin who was still standing in the doorway although the question was obviously meant for Chaeryoung.

Ryujin scoffed. "It wasn't my fault, i was taking a shower and my phone was with her. You texted at the wrong time."

"That's not the point here, the point is that you and Yuna decided to show up to school - not even your school, mind you. Doing that stuff here can get you seriously in trouble - and beat up a kid." Chaeryoung looked at them in dissapointment. "Jeongin, you're supposed to be the smart one here." 

"He insulted you!"

"I don't care!"

"WELL, I DO!" Jeongin barked. "We do! It hurts us more than you when somebody looks down on you, y'know."

Chaeryoung looked startled, maybe even a little teary, upon the revealation. 

She evntually broke the heavy silence that had fallen upon them. "I-i-"

"AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING??!" Ryujin shouted, trying to grab Keita who had decided to make his escape in that moment.

Jeongin and Yuna immidiently joined Ryujin in running after him, Chaeryoung yelling at them to stop and starting to chase them.

Jeongin and Chaeryoung fell behind, and Jeongin was trying his hardest to both not loose Yuna in the distance (damn the girl could run fast) nor get caught by Chaeryoung behind him. 

By the time they reached the school exit, a YG van was seen speeding off right in front of their eyes, leaving only dust to pait the air. Ryujin let out a yell of frustration and stomped, while yuna aggresevily threw her bat to the floor (which she had grabbed back from Jeongin on the way out of the classrooom).

Jeongin sighed alongside Chaeryoung, though he gussed she was sighing in relief while he was doing it out of frustration.

Chaeryoung turned to him, a glare in her eyes which both promised him a lecture from here as well that there'd be trouble with the hyungs.

Chaeryoung then walked over to the two girls, grabbing them by the ears, seemeinf to start a screaming match but jeongin didn't really pay attention. He jsut resumed to staring into the direction that the van had sped off into, his thoughts unwillingly going to a boy with an angel voice and a smile like the sunrise.

He was only awoken from his trance once Ryujin hit him upside down the head, hard. He let out a startled yell.

"Stop dreaming, gotta leave before paparazzis show up" Ryujin gulüed. "or the sunbaenims."

And on the way home, while bickering, Jeongin failed to notice the strange look Yuna has been throwing at him ever since his strange day dream, curiousity and a million questions shining in her eyes.

(maybe that was due to the fact that she just realized that Keita, a YG trainee, has been jealously grumbling about how the love of his life was stolen away by a boy with 'sharp, fox eyes' whose name Keita didn't even know, but the love of his life had been gushing to him about. And maybe Yedam wanted to pay that boy a visit, once he finally found out his identity.)

(Well, at the end of the day, Jeongin had gotten more of a lecture about how wrong skipping school is, more so than beating up a kid is, from Jaebum, with BamBam snickering in the background and warning him that he'll 'turn out like Yugyeom' otherwise, the latter yelling protest from the kitchen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> damn, i really gotta start beta reading these. i had this chapter drawn out for ore than a month, but only poseted it now, i'm so sorry. A lot's been going on and i had a lot of schedules, so i wrote the first part back in May and only wrote the ending know (which explains why it feels rushed, due to me having forgotten what i originally wanted to put into the ending over the span of a month.) Anyway, i'm gonna start updating more again, and i know this chapter was shitty but i didn't wanna rewrite the whole thing so sorry. (also found somebody rocommending my story to on twitter, so yeah OP if you're reading this hi haha). Anyway, gotta go, i have two friends in the cinema and the new spiderman movie to catch in less tha.... 20 minutes fml

**Author's Note:**

> For everybody's information, yes all the people mentioned are actual real life JYP trainees and i might mention more as the stories continue. probs might pull in bighit and txt since their trainees are so close that the artist confessed to training together and mostly all knowing each other. Maybe put in ygtb too, i love jeongdam.  
> And yes, Yao Chen is actually in China right now for a show called Idol Camp, look him up.  
> jdhdeh sorry this chapter is a bit(LOT) messy and i am lazy.  
> Reviews would be appreciated, i haven't written anything in a while and my insecure ass wants to dig myself a hole and rot in there.


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